• NET Web Desk

The Assam government today constituted a three-member panel to examine the death of a pregnant woman at Lakhimpur Medical College and Hospital (LMCH), allegedly due to medical incompetence and infrastructure flaws.

Following the news of this patient’s death, the state Health Minister – Keshab Mahanta travelled to Lakhimpur from Guwahati, and urged officials to ensure that the hospital’s power supply was not disrupted.

Its worthy to note that a woman from nearby Gohpur succumbed at the hospital on Thursday. Her family claimed that an emergency caesarean section could not be done on her due to a power outage and a lack of fuel along the hospital’s generator.

They also alleged that the attending doctors failed to provide adequate care, after her admission to the hospital on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference after analyzing the matter, Mahanta remarked that “we are forming a three-member expert panel to examine the causes and grounds leading to regrettable fatality of the pregnant woman.”

The committee consisting of physicians from Dibrugarh’s Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) will conduct the investigation and submit the report as soon as possible.

The minister interacted with officials from the Power and PWD (Building) departments and ordered them to ensure that uninterrupted power supply is delivered to LMCH.

“In case there is a power outage, there should be back-up at the hospital at all times. I have asked the two departments to ensure it at the earliest,” he said.

The health minister who was accompanied by the Director of Medical Education – Dr Anup Kumar Barman, also evaluated the LMCH’s operations.

He announced that the hospital’s governing body will convene on June 8 and requested that the authorities submit a report on concerned issues.