In a shocking incident, two doctors forgot their Hippocratic Oath and got indulged in a verbal spat inside the operation theatre during the surgery of a pregnant woman in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur.
The incident took place at the Umaid Women and Children Hospital yesterday when gynaecologist Ashok Nainwal and anaesthetist M L Tak entered into a verbal spat over checking the heartbeat of the child, said Amilal Bhat, principal of the S N Medical College, which runs the hospital.
One of the doctors later walked out of the operation theatre. The child succumbed due to falling pulse rate, he said.
The baby reportedly died right after the delivery.
One of the staff members recorded the entire episode on the cell phone and the video has gone viral since then.
Both the doctors have been removed from duty and disciplinary action will be initiated against them, A L Bhat, Principal told.
Bhat said one of the doctors (an assistant professor) has been suspended and the file of the other doctor has been sent to the personnel department at Jaipur on the government's direction.
"An inquiry committee has also been constituted to probe the matter," he said.
High Court orders inquiry
The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday took suo moto cognizance of a verbal spat between doctors inside the operation theatre at a Jodhpur hospital -- the video of which has gone viral.
A division bench headed by Justice G.K. Vyas, while terming the incident a serious one, has ordered a detailed inquiry.
"The lady shown in the video was operated on around 11 a.m. and both the lady and the girl child she delivered are fine," Dr Ranjana Desai, superintendent at Umaid Hospital, told IANS.
On reports stating that the woman lost her baby, Desai said that there was another operation that was conducted just 20-30 minutes later by some other doctors where the child was stillborn and "most probably things got mixed up".
However, such behaviour by doctors is unacceptable, unethical and unprofessional, she said.
At the High Court in Jodhpur, the district collector told the bench that the state government has already set up a committee of three senior officials to probe the matter.
The court, though, was not satisfied and ordered the inclusion of the metropolitan magistrate also in the committee as a judicial member.
The court directed the collector to submit the report on September 4.
