The police have registered a case in connection with the death of a 31-year-old pregnant woman in a private hospital at Ponnamaravathi on Wednesday. A senior Health Department official said two teams would conduct detailed inquiry at the hospital on Friday and check the reports.
Police and Health department sources said the family members of the woman, identified as P. Kalaimani, alleged that the woman had died at the hospital when she had gone there for terminating her pregnancy after learning through scan that she was bearing a girl child.
Kalaimani, a resident of Thirumanancheri in Karambakudi in the district, had been married for 10 years and had two daughters. She was four months pregnant when she visited the hospital. The body of the woman was sent to the Pudukottai Government Medical Hospital for a postmortem. Family members of the woman staged a road roko in front of the hospital on Thursday for over an hour demanding action against the doctor and to seal the private hospital. The agitation warranted the intervention of the police, revenue and health department officials who held talks with the protesters.
Although an autopsy was conducted, the protesters refused to receive the body. The cause of the death would be known only after obtaining the autopsy report, said the police.