UTTAR PRADESH: In a bizarre incident, a woman from Mainpuri, in Uttar Pradesh gave birth inside an ambulance after a local hospital turned her away due to a staff crunch. The incident occurred on Saturday when the pregnant woman, in urgent need of care, was refused treatment at Sausaiya Matra Shishu Chikitshalaya citing that their on-duty anesthesiologist was absent.
The father of the newborn revealed that "initially the hospital staff told the family that it could not be a natural delivery as there were some complications and the patient required an emergency cesarean operation." But their relief turned into distress when it was revealed that the hospital was unable to do the procedure since their anesthesiologist was unavailable.
This made the family seek help elsewhere, and they were referred to another hospital. It was sad that before they could reach the facility, the mother went into labor and had delivered with the assistance of the staff in the ambulance.
Although both the mother and child have been reported as being stable, outrage has blown over the incident and serious questions about healthcare accessibility in the region have been thrown up. Residents of the locality have shown concern over how a major hospital could fail to provide critical care due to a shortage of staff.
Following the increasing clamor, Chief Medical Officer Dr. R.C. Gupta ordered an inquiry into the conduct of the hospital. "We got a written complaint from the family and formed a two-member committee to investigate the matter in detail. The findings will be submitted within a week after which further action will be taken based on the report," Dr. Gupta said.
Unfortunately, the case is not in isolation. This March, a similar case happened in Kerala where a woman shifted from the district hospital to another hospital in an ambulance had to deliver her baby inside the ambulance. Fortunately, there were no complications to either the mother or the child, but these incidents are gradually becoming causes of concern all over the country.
The Mainpuri incident thus underlines the continuing problems in the health infrastructure of rural India, where inadequately manned hospitals, a lack of necessary medical professionals, and delayed services keep claiming lives. As an official inquiry begins, the people of this town retain hope that such a sad incident would open the eyes of the administration toward improving medical resources and staffing in the region.
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