Police are investigating two doctors allegedly involved in the incident.
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The Nepal Medical Council is going to investigate the death of 29-year-old Geeta Pandey of Baganaskali Rural Municipality-2, Palpa, who died during an abortion.
Pandey, who had gone to a private clinic in Butwal to get a 12-week abortion, died on Sunday. However, the incident came to light after Geeta's husband Prakash Pandey filed a complaint with the Area Police Office on Tuesday, alleging that the death was due to the negligence of doctors and health workers.
The Pandey couple had gone to Khatri Nursing Home in Butwal on Chaitra 12 for an unwanted pregnancy. When the pregnancy test was done, it was found to be 12 weeks and abnormal, and Dr. DB Khatri had called them for Baisakh 4.
According to Prakash, when he went there again on Saturday, Baisakh 5, Dr. Khatri himself had sent her to the Zonal Pharmacy in Maitripath, Butwal. There, the health workers had asked for 16,000 rupees for the abortion without doing any other tests. However, the Pandey couple gave only Rs 2,000. The health worker at the zonal pharmacy told her to take 2 capsules of the medicine in the evening and in the morning. He also called her for 8 am on Sunday morning.
The pharmacy gave her another medicine and asked her to rest for 2 hours. Geeta fainted immediately after taking the medicine. After that, the health worker at the zonal pharmacy immediately sent Geeta to the nearby Indulekha Clinic. However, Geeta's husband Prakash said that he was not allowed to enter the clinic.
'I was not even allowed to go inside, I don't know what was done to Geeta after taking her inside,' he said, 'later suddenly they took her to Lumbini City Hospital. The doctors there declared her dead at around 3:49.’
In the Geeta death case, the police had arrested Sandhya Basnet, 30, of Kanchanpur District Rehabilitation Municipality-1, the operator of Zonal Pharmacy, Neelam Gharti Magar, 22, of Dhurkot Rural Municipality-3, Gulmi, the same operator of Zonal Pharmacy, and Khagendra Prasad Pandey of Indulekha Health Clinic on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, the accused, DB Khatri, the operator of Khatri Nursing Home, and Dr. Satish Rupakheti of Indulekha Health Clinic, had themselves contacted the police. The council is going to investigate after the victim’s family filed a complaint with the Medical Council demanding action against the doctor for negligence.
According to the Council’s Registrar Dr. Satish Kumar Dev, preparations are being made to form a committee for an impartial investigation into the incident. He said that the investigation will be taken forward after necessary discussions as a formal application has also been received from the victim. Council member Dr. Samrat Parajuli said that discussions are underway to form an investigation committee led by a specialist doctor from outside Butwal.
Although Geeta was originally from Baganaskali Rural Municipality-2 in Palpa, she was currently living in Janakinagar, Tilottama Municipality-3. She was an employee of the Red Cross-run blood transfusion center in Bhairahawa. After the incident, angry relatives have locked down the related health institutions.
