Savita family urges India to push for public probe

The family of Savita Halappanavar has put further pressure on the Indian government to encourage Ireland to open an independent inquiry into her death.

The 31-year-old’s husband Praveen made the call to India’s ministry of external affairs in a weekend interview with New Delhi Television (NDTV).

Speaking on the popular channel, Mr Halappanavar said he and Savita’s parents — Andanappa and Akkamahadevi Yalagi — still believe that, despite the fact two investigations are under way, a public inquiry is the only way to “know the truth” about what happened.

He again thanked people in Ireland and his homeland for their continued support.

However, Mr Halappanavar said this backing must now manifest itself in fresh calls by the Indian government for a public inquiry in this country over his wife’s tragic death.

“We want to appeal to the government of India to please speak to their counterparts in Ireland and see if they can expedite any help for us to initiate a public inquiry.

“I’d like to thank the ambassador for India here [Debashish Chakravarti], he’s been talking to me almost every day, to request the external ministry in India if they can put some, not say pressure, but a request with the Irish Government for a public inquiry,” he said.

During the interview Mr Halappanavar said he and Savita chose Galway University Hospital as the facility to receive help as they had “no [maternal] death in the last 17 years”.

However, in his view the way in which his wife was treated at the facility was “horrendous, and I don’t have any trust the HSE will do that any justice”.

“We want to know the truth because she was fine until we went to the hospital, we just want to know why was she left in the hospital without care. It’s horrendous the way she was treated, I just can’t imagine something like this could happen,” he said.

Mr Halappanavar said it was difficult to answer the “tough question” of whether he will remain in Ireland once the issue is resolved.

However, the 34-year-old Boston Scientific engineer stressed he is “getting a lot of support from the Irish people, we’re fortunate to have great friends here who have stood by me”.

When asked for the one lasting memory he had of his wife, Mr Halappanavar said: “She said to me [in the hospital] she knew what motherhood would be like, she just held my hand and said it’s such an amazing feeling. She know now what it is like to be a mother.”

Meanwhile, the Irish Patients’ Association has asked the HSE director of advocacy Greg Price to open a helpline for people affected by other health service scandals. IPA chair Stephen McMahon said the ongoing push for an independent public inquiry is making a number of victims of previous, unrelated scandals re-think how adequately their concerns were resolved.