Bacchus Marsh hospital future under a cloud following fresh investigations

THE future of the Bacchus Marsh hospital is clouded following revelations 43 fresh investigations have begun into pregnancies handled by the health service.

Dodgy doctor Surinder Parhar formerly of the Bacchus Marsh hospital, outside Vicroads, Melton, Picture Yuri Kouzmin

THE future of the Bacchus Marsh hospital is clouded following revelations 43 fresh investigations have begun into pregnancies handled by the health service.

The new inquiries, five months after seven avoidable deaths were attributed to the hospital in an initial report last October, mean the full toll of deaths and injuries could extend to 50 pregnancies.

The national health regulator is now poring over thousands of medical records to determine whether action against individual practitioners is required.

NEW PROBE: Bacchus Marsh baby toll soars

Sources close to the hospital have told the Herald Sun of fears it may not be able to survive a further loss of the public’s faith.

Maurice Blackburn lawyer Kathryn Booth said her firm was acting for some of the families who had been identified in Professor Euan Wallace’s latest investigation as having lost babies in avoidable circumstances.

“The scale of people affected by poor care and treatment provided by Bacchus Marsh is unprecedented,” she said.

“Some of our cases go back to 25 years ago, and it is heartbreaking for these families to only be hearing further information about what happened now,” she said.

The 43 new complaints being examined by the Office of the Health Services Commissioner date back to 1990.

All raised matters relating to the management of pregnancy and labour.

The complaints are believed to include most of the five deaths that have also been revealed in the second independent report by Prof Wallace, raising the number of questionable deaths to 12.

In February, when the Herald Sun spoke to Dr Surinder Parhar — who ran the service’s obstetrics unit for 30 years until doubts were raised about a cluster of deaths last June — he said the public should have faith in the hospital, due to its long-term record.

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