12 Pregnant Women Die in Indian Hospital, Contaminated IV Fluids Suspected

On February 13 a pregnant woman died after being given contaminated IV fluids during labor. Within 10 days, another 11 women were administered the same contaminated fluids at Umaid Hospital in the city of Jodhpur, Rajasthan India. Along with the 12 that died, an additional 5 women were in critical condition. The cause of death for these women was related to hemorrhaging. Superintendant N.G. Chaggani of Umaid Hospital reports that a possible cause for the hemmorhaging was due to an infection after the women were given the IV fluids. However this isn't the first time that the hospital has had reported cases of patients being improperly treated. Back in July, 8 children were infected with HIV by blood transfusions given at the same hospital and over 43 people contracted Hepatitis C. Both of these are incurable diseases that require treatment or possible death could occur. Police have recently started a case against the company that provided the hospital with the contaminated fluids as well as the Indian manufacturer. The police are doing their part to help solve this issue but it is not the company that supplied the fluids alone that need to be targeted. The hospital is an in state-run facility that has poor standards of care and is unsanitary. Cost of high quality medical care doesn't come cheap in India and many people are not able to afford the state-of-the-art private hospitals with high quality care. For these hospitals are mainly for wealthy individuals who travel to India for inexpensive surgery. The government needs to be doing more to provide Indians with proper health care since they are paying out of pocket large amounts. In the case of the women who died, not only do police need to be investigating the company that provided the hospital with these contaminated fluids, but the doctors and medical staff who were involved need to be investigated too. Due to the unsanitary conditions of the hospital, it could be possible that doctors were administering the fluids improperly without clean needles or gloves, making the women more prone to infection. A proper investigation needs to take place to confirm the cause of these deaths. This way they can prevent future deaths and infections. As for the July victims of HIV and Hepatitis C exposure, they should not have to pay for their treatment. People should not have to put themselves at jeopardy for poverty because of the expensive cost of health care that could have been avoided with proper treatment in a sanitary environment. People in America are privileged to have access to clean, properly run hospitals with standards as well as programs such as Medicaid which provide funds by the state and federal government for low income families. I feel like we as the privileged nation that we are should be giving to countries like India that do not have properly run, safe hospitals. India's state-run hospitals need to make an effort to change the conditions of their facilities soon or the amount of patient deaths will continue to rise.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/02/25/12-pregnant-women-die-indian-hospital-contaminated-iv-fluids-suspected/