‘Sent back’ by civic hospital,woman gives birth on street

He said she fainted and started bleeding,and that he and another woman rushed into the hospital but nurses told them the hospital could not handle premature deliveries. By then,the husband had returned and the three of them helped her deliver.

“I saw a nurse looking out of the window. She saw the pain my wife was in but did not come out,” said Kishor Gohil,the husband.

Assistant health officer Dr Sajivani Palkar,said,“Some staff said they saw the delivery near the hospital gate and brought the mother and baby inside. Others gave a contradictory version saying the delivery happened on the way to LTMG Hospital.”

Local MNS workers agitated at the BMC clinic demanding resignation of the lone doctor on duty. They say an eyewitness called the police. “Only after their arrival did a nurse come down and cut the umbilical cord,on the footpath. The mother and the newborn were carried inside,” MNS worker Swanand Kamat said. The baby was sent to LTMG then,and the mother on Tuesday,they said. Palkar says nobody “told me anything about the umbilical cord being cut on the street.”

The BMC health office will conduct a probe and the report is expected in 48 hours. The LTMG dean did not comment. A source at the hospital said,“We did not have to keep the baby in the ICU so it looks the delivery was not very premature…”The newborn is in the regular paediatric ward. The source added because of unassisted delivery,the baby was meconium stained,a complication arising out of foetal distress and the mother suffered unnecessary blood loss.

Dr GT Ambe,BMC executive health officer,said,“We have taken inputs from all sides and will file an official report tomorrow…”