This refers to Subir Roy's column "The ethical deficit of private hospitals" (Value for Money, July 31). The media reported a case in Madurai two weeks ago where the duty nurses in a private hospital attended to a delivery case by obtaining instructions from the doctor by cell phone. The baby and mother did not gain consciousness and were rushed to another hospital which found them to be in serious condition. Since the doctor was not available there, they were both taken to one of the city's "big" hospitals where the treatment did not succeed and both died. As for public hospitals, the situation is no better. Medical supervision leaves much to be desired. In almost every reported case of infant deaths, it is observed that basic sanitation had been ignored. Ombudsman or not, what is more important and urgent is improvement in the quality of supervision. What are director generals of medical services for?
S Subramanyan Mumbai
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