Pregnant woman operated upon by nurse on video call with doctor dies during surgery

A bid to replicate a subplot of Bollywood blockbuster '3 Idiots' in real life -- by operating a pregnant woman with the aide of a gynaecologist on a video call -- met a tragic end, unlike in the movie, as the patient in Bihar's Purnea district died late on Monday night.

The pregnant woman named Malti Devi (22) was admitted to the Samarpan maternity hospital in Purnea's Line Bazar area on Monday evening after she complained of labour pain. At that time, the gynaecologist, Seema Kumari, was out of the city. Despite that, the woman was admitted and operated upon by the hospital administration.

As Malti was having acute labour pain, the nurses and other medical staff consulted Seema Kumari and decided to go ahead with the operation to make the delivery possible.

Accordingly, they took Malti to the operation theatre and roped in a nurse for the operation. The nurse was instructed via video call and she did the operation, but unknowingly she cut an important vein in the stomach which led to Malti's death.

The woman had given birth to twins. The infants are alive and healthy.

Following the incident, the family members of the deceased created a ruckus in the hospital on Tuesday morning. As the situation went out of control, the SHO of Khajanchi Sahayak police station, Ranjit Kumar, along with his team reached the hospital and restored order.

"We have received an application from the victim's family and forwarded it to the civil surgeon's office in Purnea. The matter will be investigated by the civil surgeon of Purnea and if he finds medical negligence in this matter, we will register an FIR against the doctor and the hospital administration," the SHO said.

Meanwhile, four-time MP and Jan Adhikar Party President Pappu Yadav reached the hospital and consoled the family. He also contacted the civil surgeon and the SHO of Khajanchi Sahayak police station and requested them to take strong action against the doctors and other medical staff for negligence.