A pregnant mother and her baby have died after doctors at a hospital carried out a Caesarian delivery using a cellphone torch. And, if the incident wasn't shocking enough, this has happened in the country's financial capital in a hospital run by India's richest civic body - the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, whose budget is over Rs 52,000 crore.
The amount allocated for health is 12 per cent, or Rs 6,250 crore.
Khusruddin Ansari, who is specially abled and does not have a leg, got his 26-year-old wife Sahidun admitted to the Sushma Swaraj maternity home for her delivery. The couple had been married only for 11 months.
The family has alleged that power went out in the maternity home on Monday and the generator wasn't turned on for three hours. They said that even after they lost the mother and child, another delivery was carried out in the darkness.
Members of the family have been protesting outside the hospital for days and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally ordered an inquiry.
'Incision Before Consent'
Mr Ansari's mother said, "My daughter-in-law was absolutely healthy and had been pregnant for nine months. All her reports were okay. They took her for the delivery at 7 am on April 29, kept her the whole day and, until 8 pm, we were told everything was fine. Doctors told us that the delivery would be normal. Then, when I went to meet her, I saw that she was covered in blood."
"They had made an incision and then came to get a signature saying she had suffered a fit and a C-section was needed. That's when the power went out and they did not send us to another hospital even after that. They took us to the operation theatre and did the delivery with the help of a phone torch. The child died and, when we cried, the doctor said the mother would survive. They referred us to Sion Hospital, but she had died by then. There was no oxygen available either," she alleged.
An inconsolable Mr Ansari has called for the doctors to be punished. "Just as I am suffering, the doctors and staff should suffer, they should be punished. The hospital should be closed," he said.
"I want justice. I earn a small amount and I am specially abled. I got married with great difficulty, my life has been ruined," he rued.
The family also showed photos and videos of another delivery being carried out in the same operation theatre with the help of a cellphone torch.
'Need Strict Action'
Former BMC councillor Jagruti Patil of the BJP said she has met the party candidate, Mihir Kotecha, from the Mumbai North East Lok Sabha constituency - under which the hospital falls - and the BMC has finally taken action by setting up an inquiry.
"The condition of the hospital is bad. Such complaints have been made about this hospital earlier as well. Strict action will have to be taken," she said.
