Private hospitals too must report on labour deaths cause

Nadira Gunatilleke

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena has ordered the Private Medical Institutions Development Unit to call for reports from all private hospitals on every maternal and infant death that occurs during labour.

All state hospitals submit reports but no private hospital’s follow this practice, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, all state hospitals provide a special detailed report to the Health Ministry on every single maternal and infant death that occur during the labour period.

All state hospitals follow this rule making it possible for health authorities to find out the cause of death and whether anything went wrong during the labour process.

“Private hospitals do not conduct investigations on any of their maternal and infant deaths that occur during the labour process.

Nobody knows the reason for such maternal and infant deaths. No report is being submitted to any health authority. There is no rules and regulations to compel private hospitals to conduct investigations and submit reports to the health authorities,” he said.

Health Minister Sirisena will amend the Private Medical Institutions Registration Act number 21 of 2006 making it compulsory for private hospitals to submit a special report on every single maternal and infant death occurring during the labour process, he added.