At least 10 women have died while giving birth at Lumbini Zonal Hospital in the last 16 months. Heart and lungs failure were the leading causes of these deaths, said Laxmiraj Regmi, the hospital’s information officer.

While the families of the women who died claim that their deaths were caused as a result of negligence, the hospital administration has denied the allegation.

Though an internal investigation of the hospital had found that the saline solutions administered to the women who had died were substandard, the investigators apparently could not prove if the saline drips had triggered those fatal complications. The finding of the investigation, that the saline solution was not of the accepted standard, had been withheld from the public at the time. 

Bikash Devkota, the hospital’s medical superintendent, said there were no proper reasons behind the deaths of these women as delivery complications could occur suddenly.

According to the hospital’s record, 8,329 women had given birth at the hospital last year.