An Uzbek blames the death of his 27-year-old wife on doctors' negligence and a lack of basic equipment at a hospital in eastern Uzbekistan where she died two weeks after giving birth.
Davron Ghaniev says his wife, Mushtari Ghanieva, was admitted to the Kokand city hospital's maternity ward on December 17 and suffered internal bleeding after giving birth.
Ghaniev claims doctors "didn't pay attention" to his wife's condition despite his pleading with the medics to take measures to stop the bleeding.
"When I asked the doctors, they told me 'bleeding happens because of giving birth, it will stop soon,'" he said.
"But it didn't stop," Ghaniev told RFE/RL. "My wife fell into a coma on December 20. Then doctors came from [the provincial capital] Ferghana City and operated on my wife. But she died on January 2."
According to Ghaniev, the maternity ward didn't have a functional artificial-respiration device, a problem which further worsened her condition and contributed to her death.
Ghaniev says he went and bought an artificial respirator in the neighboring town of Danghara but that by the time he acquired it he was too late to save his wife.
Officials at the Kokand maternity ward refused to comment to RFE/RL about Ghanieva's death.
The Ferghana Regional Health Care Department confirmed her death but said the circumstances are still being investigated.
The department told RFE/RL the Kokand maternity ward has recently undergone repairs and had received modern medical equipment.
However, an official within the department -- who would only speak on condition of anonymity -- told RFE/RL that hospitals in the region still haven't received any new equipment.
"Most of the devices are old, some are broken, therefore we requested new medical equipment, the delivery of which will begin [sometime] in 2020," the official said. "Then we will distribute them to our hospitals."
Many Uzbeks say a lack of basic equipment is widespread in hospitals in the provinces, where medical facilities face many other problems, such as a shortage of electricity during the winter.
They also say doctors' negligence isn't uncommon.
In the Angor district hospital in Surkhondaryo Province, nurses and relatives of the patients must operate artificial-respiration devices manually every time the electricity is cut off, residents complained.
In the province of Jizzakh, relatives are blaming doctors for the death of a 29-year-old pregnant woman, who died in a hospital last month.
Her family says doctors failed to provide urgent medical assistance that she needed. The hospital has denied the claim.
