Lack of humane approach to medical care causes deaths

CHENNAI: Lack of humane approach to medical care in the country has caused many deaths, and it is time we learnt from them, said Medical Council of India vice-president, Dr CV Bhirmananandam. He was speaking lecture at a seminar 'Right to Health: Law and Ethics' attended by prominent doctors and lawyers at Sri Ramachandra University on Saturday.

Pointing out cases of death due to negligence by physicians, Bhirmanandam said proper maintenance of records would have prevented such deaths. "A few years ago in Delhi, a woman who had visited a clinic for an abortion collapsed on the floor on the evening after surgery. Scrutiny of records revealed that the physician had used a Matthew Duncan dilator in the place of a Hegar's dilator, resulting in the perforation of the uterus. There are countless such cases in India."

SRU associate dean J Damodharan said, "There is a shortage of physicians and healthcare professionals; particularly in rural areas where about 40% child birth is performed at home giving rise to increasing rates of infant and maternal mortality.

According to WHO, there are 0.7 physicians for every 1000 people in India, compared to 2.5 in the United States and 1.9 in China. For every 1000 births in a year, 41 infants die before reaching one year of age, whereas the number is 11 in China and 6 in the United States.