Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Oct 1: The family of Desu Pertin Jerang, who allegedly died due to lack of immediate medical care on 28 September, has questioned the state government on its Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) in terms of handling patients, including pregnant women, who require immediate medical attention.
Addressing reporters at the press club here on Thursday, the brother-in-law of the deceased, Tami Pangu, said that several states have provisions that exempt pregnant women and emergency cases from going through the time-consuming SOPs, and the state government should implement the same here.
“Rectify the faulty system, so that no other family has to go through the loss of loved ones like we did,” he said.
While he clarified that the family has not reached out to anyone to seek an inquiry into the matter, he questioned senior gynaecologist at the RK Mission Hospital (RKMH), Dr Posting Bayang, over his statement that he was “not on duty” during the time.
“Please explain to us what a patient should do in case of an emergency if the doctor they are seeing is off duty. She had been bleeding profusely since 3 am. The patient insisted on seeing Dr Bayang because he was her doctor, after all. All hospitals should set a mechanism to address such matters of emergency, so that such tragedy is not repeated,” he said.
The family also said that, while it considered the clarification of Heema Hospital as being correct, Dr Bayang was already at Heema Hospital as they had spoken to him on the phone.
“When we spoke to Dr Bayang at 5:56 am, he asked us to go to the TRIHMS, or that we could come to Heema Hospital as he would be there. He had also said that he would inform Heema Hospital of our arrival. However, on arrival, we were told that Dr Bayang was not there,” Pangu claimed.
The family also requested Dr Jomson Bagra to not defend Dr Bayang by saying that “the term ‘negligence’ was used incorrectly.”
“What other term should we have used when neglected was how we felt at the time? It is all right to defend him as a colleague, but please do not defend someone for the sake of being right,” Pangu said.
He also requested the Indian Medical Association’s Arunachal chapter not to try and silence the aggrieved family members by expressing “anguish and dismay,” and asked how it intends to bring changes in the medical system of the state.
On 28 September, Pertin, who was pregnant with twins, died while on the way to the Tomo Riba Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) in Naharlagun at around 9:30 am.
She had been taken to two hospitals in Itanagar before being taken to the TRIHMS.
The husband and relatives of the deceased have claimed negligence by her doctor, Bayang.
