Kota: A 26-year-old woman died at Kota’s J K Lon Hospital Saturday night, a day after she underwent a C-section and delivered a healthy baby girl while being treated for critical pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH).Hospital authorities said the death was not linked to two recent maternal deaths caused by post-C-section infections at Kota’s New Medical College Hospital (NMCH) on Oct 16 and 17.The woman, Shabnam Bano, a resident of Chhabra in Baran, was referred to J K Lon Hospital from a govt hospital in Baran late Friday evening. She was in a critical state of PIH, with the baby ready to be delivered.According to her family, Shabnam had been admitted to the govt hospital in Baran on Oct 22 for delivery. Her brother, Sarfaraz, told the media in Kota Sunday that doctors kept her fasting overnight and delayed surgery by about 12 hours without proper care.Sarfaraz alleged that Shabnam suffered seizures and her condition worsened on Oct 23 in Baran, prompting doctors to refer her to J K Lon Hospital in Kota.Doctors in Kota informed the family that her condition was critical and carried out a caesarean operation around 11.30pm the same night. Shabnam delivered a healthy baby girl, but her blood pressure dropped sharply during and after delivery. She died around 10pm Saturday.The family refused a post-mortem, following which the body was handed over to them without an autopsy Sunday morning.J K Lon Hospital superintendent Nirmala said Shabnam had already begun having seizures at the Baran hospital, where she had been admitted for two days without a successful operation, and reached Kota in a coma state. She said the family was fully briefed before doctors decided to proceed with the operation to save the child.Nirmala said 16% of patient deaths occur due to pregnancy-induced hypertension, adding that maternal deaths caused by high blood pressure are a WHO figure. She said case fatality in eclampsia — the most serious form of high BP involving seizures — ranges from 10% to 15% in developing countries.The incident comes after two recent maternal deaths at Kota’s NMCH. On Oct 16, 40-year-old Reshma died of kidney failure after a caesarean. On Oct 17, Roshan Bairwa died due to excessive bleeding after her C-section.
