Rajasthan’s medical mystery: Why are new mothers dying in Kota, falling critically ill in Bikaner?

• Bilkul Online | Sunday Special
• Jaipur, June 14

It’s been over a month since five women died in Rajasthan’s Kota after undergoing surgical challenges during pregnancy. What killed these five women and what triggered recent cases of acute kidney injury, multi-organ failure, and even blindness among new mothers in another Rajasthan city, Bikaner, is now a million-dollar question.

Weeks after two separate but strikingly similar healthcare crises rocked the state government hospitals, authorities are still searching for answers. The questions have a mystery for investigators, doctors and policymakers alike. In Kota, five women died after undergoing surgical procedures, including caesarean deliveries, while in Bikaner, a growing number of women who recently gave birth are battling acute kidney injury (AKI), sepsis, organ failure and severe neurological complications. The families of patients are demanding accountability, while expert committees continue to investigate. The most alarming aspect of the Bikaner crisis is the similarity in the complications being reported among women who had recently undergone delivery procedures.

Twenty-seven-year-old Tara Devi is reportedly suffering from acute kidney injury, severe anaemia, fluid accumulation around the lungs and dangerously elevated potassium levels; 19-year-old Rahila has developed postpartum bleeding, low platelet counts, infection, acute kidney injury and multiple organ dysfunction; 20-year-old Imrati is battling severe sepsis, kidney failure and multi-organ dysfunction. Another patient, Kamla, remains in intensive care and has already undergone dialysis three times. The condition of two young mothers on ventilator support has raised particular concern. Preeti (20), a resident of Suratgarh, suffered seizures following childbirth due to severe hypertension. Doctors suspect HELLP syndrome, a life-threatening pregnancy-related disorder. She has also developed acute kidney injury and lung complications and is currently on ventilator support. Reports suggest she has lost her eyesight. Sharda (26), a resident of Shriramsar, represents perhaps the most disturbing case. Admitted to Bikaner’s Janana Hospital on June 3, she underwent a Caesarean section the following day. Within hours of surgery, her condition began deteriorating rapidly. By June 5, she had been shifted to the ICU, where investigations revealed multi-organ failure and acute kidney injury.

Doctors suspect HELLP syndrome. Subsequently, Sharda reportedly lost her vision and developed severe breathing difficulties, eventually requiring ventilator support. Meanwhile, Medical and Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khinvsar convened a high-level review meeting with senior officials and specialist doctors, taking serious note of reports on the health condition of women who recently delivered at PBM Hospital, Bikaner. According to the department’s report, of the five women under treatment, three had normal deliveries while two underwent C-sections. All were admitted between May 15 and June 3. Officials informed the minister that the patients had been admitted with different and complex medical complications. The situation has raised fresh questions as the unfolding situation in Bikaner bears an unsettling resemblance to events in Kota, where five women have died following surgeries and Caesarean procedures over the past month. The recent victim in Kota was 29-year-old Shirin, who was five months pregnant when she visited Kota Medical College Hospital for a routine examination. According to her family, doctors advised a minor uterine procedure, after which her condition deteriorated dramatically. Relatives allege she developed serious complications, including kidney failure, and later died during treatment. Earlier, Payal (26), Jyoti Nayak (19), Priya Mahawar and Pinki Mahawar also died following surgical procedures at Government Medical College Hospital and JK Lon Hospital in Kota.

Family members of the deceased women in Kota have consistently claimed that many patients developed urinary and kidney-related complications shortly after surgery. The health officials told IANS that the reasons are still being investigated. Preliminary investigations in Kota revealed that 12 to 13 women underwent Caesarean deliveries during the first week of May. Within hours of surgery, several women reportedly developed falling blood pressure, dropping platelet counts and signs of organ dysfunction. In Bikaner, doctors are now reporting a strikingly similar pattern: acute kidney injury, platelet abnormalities, sepsis, HELLP syndrome and multi-organ failure. Whether the two clusters share any common medical, procedural, pharmaceutical or infection-related link remains unknown. The Health Department has constituted expert committees to investigate both episodes. Authorities are examining treatment protocols, infection-control measures, medicines administered, surgical procedures and post-operative care. So far, however, no official conclusion has been reached.

In Kota, the government has already suspended four medical personnel, including two doctors and two nursing staff members, after preliminary findings indicated serious lapses in patient care. Hospital authorities, however, said the exact cause behind the deaths is still under investigation, and no conclusion has yet been reached by the inquiry committee. Rajasthan Drug Controller Ajay Phatak, after the Kota deaths, had said samples of the oxytocin injection had failed testing, following which the entire stock at the hospital was seized. Authorities have now halted the sale and use of the drug across Rajasthan. However, doctors confirmed that missing oxytocin cannot be a reason for death. So, the larger question remains unanswered. Until the investigation reports are made public, Rajasthan continues to grapple with a troubling mystery: what exactly caused healthy women to suffer kidney failure, multi-organ collapse and death after entering government hospitals for treatment and childbirth? For the affected families, answers cannot come soon enough.