London: Midwives and nurses in Ireland have warned that staff shortages at maternity units in the country could lead to a repeat of system failures that were blamed for Savita Halappanavar's death. The 31-year-old dentist had died at Galway University Hospital on October 28, 2012, after a miscarriage at 17 weeks.
An inquest into her death in May was told how the medical team missed the early signs of blood poisoning that eventually killed her. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation's delegate conference in Donegal, Ireland, this week has heard that a moratorium on staff recruitment could lead to another similar tragedy.
"What happened in Galway could happen in any hospital in the country. Every day I leave my job I say 'Thank God the patients in my care are safe today'," said Maureen Hanlon, a midwife at Mayo General Hospital. According to the 'Irish Examiner', Anne Burke, a clinical nurse manager at University Hospital Galway (UHG), told the conference that maternity units were "winging it, every single day, in order to maintain some semblance of service to ante and post-natal women".
"Ireland's midwifery profession is, on a daily basis, holding the Irish maternity services together, but only on a shoestring," Burke said. She pointed out that maternity units like CUMH, which has a birth rate in the order of 9,000 per year, have been grossly understaffed, despite a Labour Court recommendation in February 2011 to employ at least 80 additional midwives in order to maintain safe
03:30 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said nursing has evolved into a modern medical profession and nurses have become an indispensable part of the country's health care system. "Nurses form a large part of the health workforce and are the backbone of the health care system. They are pivotal in the hospital-doctor-patient paradigm," the president said while presenting the National Florence Nightingale awards to nursing personnel here on the...
05:59 AM, May 13, 2013
In a radical departure from over a century old dress code, female nurses in government hospitals in Kerala can now wear 'churidar and overcoat' as their uniform instead of sari. ...
12:21 PM, Nov 29, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought response of the Centre and state governments for framing guidelines for hospitals, particularly private ones, to prevent them from retaining original certificates of nurses at the time of their employment. A bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia issued notices to Ministry of Health and Family Affairs and state governments on a PIL alleging that harassment and hostile attitude of the various...
05:44 PM, May 07, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala government was mulling a new legislation to deal with the wages and other allowances of nurses and other paramedical staff working in private hospitals in the state. This was stated by Minister for Labour Shibu Baby John in the Assembly on Monday while replying to a submission which highlighted the plight and working conditions of nurses in private hospitals. The government would not allow any private hospital to...
02:26 PM, Mar 05, 2012
Kolkata: The bodies of two nurses of the city's Advanced Medicare & Research Institute (AMRI) hospital who died while saving the lives of the patients during a fire tragedy two days ago - which killed 93 patients and staffers - were sent to their home state Kerala on Sunday. Remya Rajan and Vineetha PK saved eight patients. They died of suffocation. Their bodies brought to the St Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic...
12:09 AM, Dec 12, 2011
New Delhi: Nurses in Mumbai's Cama hospital are up in arms after being forced to take care of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's ailing mother-in-law. Nurses on Monday protested against being sent to the CM's official residence to care for his ailing relative. Three nurses from Cama hospital are being deputed every day at the CM's home 'Varsha' since October 6. The nurses have demanded that they should not be...
02:34 PM, Oct 10, 2011
Nurses in the Capital will be celebrating onam away from home. ...
05:54 PM, Sep 02, 2009
The focus is on those in medicine who often get the raw end of the deal. ...
01:41 PM, May 12, 2009
The nurses say America will miss the best professionals at its own peril. ...
03:47 PM, Mar 08, 2009
A large majority of nurses in US come from India, China and the Philippines. ...
09:33 PM, Mar 06, 2009
Consent came after nurses protested against a ban on traditional symbols. ...
08:19 PM, Aug 30, 2008
Prototype robot nurses could be bustling around hospital wards in as little as three years, say German scientists. ...
10:30 AM, Jan 30, 2007
A Libyan court convicted five nurses and a doctor of deliberately infecting 400 children with the HIV virus. ...
07:53 PM, Dec 19, 2006
