Jaipur: Rajasthan’s medical education department has ordered all medical colleges and attached hospitals to enforce “airtight execution” of standard operating procedures after seven maternal deaths in Kota and Bikaner and post-childbirth complications in eight women in Jodhpur.The order follows an AIIMS, Delhi investigation into the Kota maternal deaths, which flagged the need for proper implementation of SOPs in labour rooms, operation theatres and other critical hospital areas.Acting on AIIMS’ recommendations, the department has mandated stronger infection control, tighter operation theatre management, critical care upgrades and uniform clinical practices based on protocols issued by the National Medical Commission, Indian Council of Medical Research and Union health ministry.“The order states that departments of medical college must prepare SOPs using national protocols (NMC, ICMR and Union health ministry), circulate them among faculty, staff and resident doctors, and conduct training sessions to ensure adherence,” said a senior medical education department official.The directive has been sent to principals and controllers of medical colleges, hospital superintendents and principal medical officers of district hospitals, making them responsible for implementation and compliance reporting. Heads of departments have been told to issue, circulate and display SOPs at relevant locations across departments and hospitals.“The SOPs will be displayed at all relevant places in the department and hospital. Departments will conduct training and brainstorming sessions for strict adherence, and their functioning will be as per the issued SOPs. Principals, controllers, hospital superintendents and PMOs will strictly ensure compliance,” the official said.Hospitals have also been ordered to frame and enforce strict preoperative and postoperative protocols for common surgeries and procedures. Copies of these protocols must be submitted to the medical superintendent and medical college principal.In a separate infection-control order, doctors, resident doctors, nurses and paramedical staff have been barred from travelling from home to hospital in OT or ICU scrubs. Staff must arrive in regular clothes and change into clean, designated uniforms inside the hospital before entering operation theatres or intensive care units. Movement outside OT and ICU areas in designated scrubs has also been restricted.Hospitals have been told not to shift patients to operation theatres in street or ward clothes. Surgical departments and ward in-charges must ensure patients wear clean, designated white hospital gowns before transfer.Scheduled surgery patients must not be moved to OT gates in groups. Hospitals must stagger transfers, preferably no earlier than 15 minutes before surgery.Critical care units cannot be left without a designated doctor. Hourly bedside monitoring charts must record vitals, intake-output, ventilator settings and high-alert medication details. Senior consultants must be alerted immediately if postoperative patients deteriorate.
