A four-member commission of inquiry constituted to probe the death of 26-year-old woman Sivapriya following postpartum sepsis has ruled out the possibility that the woman could have contracted the infection from the maternity ward at SAT Hospital.
The committee, headed by Sangeetha Menon, head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Alapuzha Government Medical College Hospital, announced that Sivapriya died of sepsis due to a bacterial infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus.
The committee reported that there was no chance that the infection was acquired in a hospital and that it must have been acquired in the community.
The report was tabled to the director of medical education on Friday to forward to the health minister.
Sivapriya, who had a normal delivery on October 22 at SAT, was discharged on October 24 and was readmitted with high fever, diarrhea and in a state of septic shock on the evening of October 26. Her death following sepsis on November 5 prompted allegations that the infection was hospital-acquired. The SAT hospital authorities denied this, pointing out that there were 17 deliveries on the same day as Sivapriya and several more in the following days, and that none of the mothers had any medical problems.
The committee’s report confirmed what the SAT hospital authorities had claimed that as a LaQshya Quality Accredited hospital (a certification of operating room quality from the National Quality Accreditation Standards), infection control protocols were strictly followed by the SAT hospital. All surface culture swabs taken from the maternity ward by the microbiology department as part of infection control protocols just two days before Sivapriya’s delivery confirmed that the delivery room was sterile.
Doctors at SAT Hospital said that hygiene in the postpartum period is extremely important to prevent infections, especially when the wound (episiotomy) was fresh. Records at the time of her readmission to the hospital indicated that she had fever and diarrhea. Although it is possible that the wound may have been infected by pollution, nothing could be determined.
Doctors said that although blood culture reports had initially yielded no results, a November 4 blood culture report confirmed a Staphylococcus aureus infection (pus samples from the episiotomy site for culture had previously shown the presence of Acinetobacter).
“Proper hygiene is important in the postpartum period to prevent infections. Staphylococcal infection can present as diarrhea. Host immunity is an important factor that can affect the outcome,” said the lead physician.
Published – 14 Nov 2025 23:36 IST
