Medical negligence claims life of newborn at Anuradhapura Hospital

• At the time of delivery the baby had fallen onto the floor

By B. G. Chathuranga - Anuradhapura 

In another case of negligence in the health sector, a baby that dropped to the floor of the delivery room at the moment of delivery due to the fault of medical staff, died yesterday at the Intensive Care Unit of the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital.

A mother who is from the village called ‘Kallanchiya’ in the Anuradhapura District had this tragic experience when she was transferred to the Anuradhapura Hospital for the delivery of her baby.

Her husband Kumarasinghe Dissanayake, 41, said, “My wife was admitted to the Kallanchchiya Hospital. She developed complications there. She was taken to the Anuradhapura Hospital in an ambulance. Then, she was referred to the labour room for delivery. At the moment of delivery, my baby had fallen onto the floor as the medical staff was unable to hold the baby.”
The baby’s body now lies at the morgue for further investigations.

He said, though doctors said the baby had not matured properly, they did not talk about the fall.
Our attempts to get a comment from Hospital Director Dulan Samaraweera failed.

However, the postmortem confirmed that the baby had fallen.