Jaipur: A series of maternal deaths after caesarean sections in Rajasthan’s govt hospitals has exposed serious gaps in the state’s healthcare system and raised allegations of opacity and inaction.Since May, at least 18 women have died in govt hospitals across Kota, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Bhilwara and Banswara. In each case, the state govt has announced investigations, sent expert teams and promised corrective action. Yet, reports from earlier probes in Kota, Bikaner and Jodhpur have not been made public, and no accountability has been fixed so far.Despite guidelines for infection control and safe drugs, the recurring deaths across multiple districts point to deeper systemic failures. For affected families, official condolences and fresh probes offer little comfort without public reports, accountability and concrete safeguards to prevent more deaths.In deaths at Kota and Bikaner, the state govt cited multiple reasons for deaths and all were related to comorbidities of the patients. The govt linked none of the deaths with carelessness or negligence of the medical staff or due to use of substandard or spurious medicine or due to healthcare-associated infection (HAI), surprising the grieving families of deceased women patients.The latest deaths in Bhilwara and Banswara have triggered the same official response. Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar Saturday said the state govt was taking the cases “very seriously” and had sent experts from the health directorate to both districts to investigate. Khimsar said a meeting with the state’s gynaecology specialists would be held to discuss corrective measures Monday.According to Khimsar, the expert teams will examine each case in detail, including the treatment process, quality of medicines, infection status in operation theatres and equipment, and post-operative monitoring arrangements. He said a conclusion would be drawn after the investigation reports are received.The minister described the deaths as “extremely sad and unfortunate” and said the govt was committed to a transparent and impartial inquiry.Khimsar denied the OT infection link to Bhilwara maternal deaths. Citing the preliminary report, he said no operation theatre infection has been confirmed. The five deaths occurred on different dates over six days, with each attributed to separate medical complications. The reported causes included myocardial infarction, hypovolaemic shock, pulmonary thromboembolism, HELLP syndrome linked to severe pregnancy-induced hypertension, and postpartum haemorrhage with DIC.Khimsar said no common cause of death was identified, nor was any case linked to operation theatre infection. He added that microbiological culture testing of operation theatres is a routine infection-control measure. As per protocol, an OT is not used after fumigation and disinfection until the culture report is received.Operation Theatre No 2 at Bhilwara Hospital was cultured on June 29, 2026. After the culture report returned positive on June 30, its use was immediately stopped as a precaution, and no surgeries have been conducted there since, the health minister claimed.
