Woman delivers baby outside Safdarjung Hospital, few steps from a dustbin

He said the hospital made them run around from one department to another for an ultrasound. “Till 11 pm, we kept going around for an ultrasound because they could not admit her without it. But after running around several times, I was told at 11 pm that they wouldn’t do it anymore and we should come back tomorrow. Nobody told us that she could be admitted,” he said.

Suman Morya (29), a relative who arrived at 6 am on Tuesday, said Poonam had started vomiting by then and was in acute pain. “The hospital claims they offered admission. But even when I arrived today morning, nobody told me that Poonam should be admitted immediately. I was also made to run around for an ultrasound.  Around 9:30-10 am, while I was running around inside, I called and got to know that her water has broken and she has delivered outside,” she said.

“It was two of our relatives who held a saree around her and helped in the delivery. The hospital staff only came to cut the umbilical cord. This is a negligent and risky act by the hospital. The mother or the child, anyone could have lost their life,” she said.

The hospital, however, has a different version. “As Safdarjung Hospital has a no refusal policy, she was examined by the SR (senior resident) on duty at 5:45 pm on July 18 and her condition was found to be 33+6 weeks gestation with preeclampsia in early labour. The patient was offered admission but she did not return with the admission paper,” the official spokesperson said in a statement.

“The next day, the SR on morning GRR duty was informed that a patient was delivering outside. A team from GRR was dispatched immediately and the patient’s delivery was taken care of,” they said, adding that Poonam was admitted to the ward while the baby girl was admitted in the nursery.  Both are in stable condition.

The hospital also said 101 patients were attended in 24 hours on July 18 by six doctors in the gynaecology department.

A doctor told The Indian Express that the hospital had put her down for admission but she was asked to get an ultrasound within the hospital before that. “She did go in for the ultrasound, but never turned up at the ward at night,” the doctor said.

Usually, if a patient is in active labour, hospital staff escort her to the labour room. But in this case, as the woman was to be admitted to the ward, she was asked to go on her own. The hospital has asked the head of the department of gynaecology to submit a report on the incident. “We will get more clarity on what happened once we get the report,” the hospital spokesperson said.

Once the delivery was done, Suman said she called up the police. “I told them the entire incident, and we will definitely give a complaint in writing as well. This should not happen to anyone else,” she said.

DCP (Southwest) Manoj C, however, said they had not received a complaint so far.

With around 100 deliveries each day, Safdarjung Hospital has one of the busiest obstetrics and gynaecology departments in the city. Two to three patients sharing beds, even maternity beds, is not an uncommon sight.

In fact, when the number of patients was restricted across government maternity and labour rooms in the city at the height of the pandemic to prevent in-hospital spread of Covid, it triggered a crisis here with women running around from one hospital to the other to deliver babies.