A SYSTEM SUFFERS DEATH BY CONTAMINATION

Four maternal deaths after caesareans at Kota hospitals shake up the Rajasthan health establishment. The needle of suspicion points to spurious drugs

- Rohit Parihar

ONE MAY HAVE BEEN AN ACCIDENT. Two, at a stretch, could count as a coincidence. But five deaths of a kind? That's what Kota, in western Rajasthan, is grappling with. A cluster of what should have been "routine" operations have each turned into a nightmare. It's become a grim litmus test for a state that aimed to picture itself as a model for welfare-minded healthcare.

Over a period of 14 days, beginning May 4, at least five women died, and several remain critical, with acute renal complications and sepsis-like symptoms-mostly after C-sections in two of the city's government hospitals. Maternal deaths in childbirth used to be a bane before modern medical care arrived. But the spectre reared its head again in tragic pictures, as family members protested with the newborns outside the two hospitals: the New Medical College Hospital (NMCH) and JK Lone Hospital.