Woman Delivers Outside Jaipur Hospital As Doctors Allegedly Turn Her Away

Jaipur: A woman delivered a baby right outside a government-run multi-specialty hospital in Jaipur on Friday night. Ashoka Bai, who works as a construction labour, alleges she had to deliver on the road as the doctors failed to attend to her on time.

The woman, who was expecting her fifth child, was admitted at the CHC, a primary health centre in Jaipur's Sanganer area. After she went into labour and with high blood pressure and other high risk symptoms, doctors there thought it was better to refer her to the nearby Jaipuria Hospital, a government-run hospital with multi-specialty units.

But Ashoka Bai says when she reached the labour room, the doctor and the resident present there did not attend to her.

"They told me wait wait. When my pain increased they said if you are in such a hurry go to some other better hospital, so I left with my family members," she says.

Ashoka Bai's sister-in-law Kesual, who was with her, says the doctors did not attend to Ashoka despite the fact that they sat in the labour room for half an hour.

"She delivered on the road, passers-by helped us, then somebody called an ambulance and we went back to the primary health centre where doctors took care of us," Kesual says.

Ashoka Bai was sent to the bigger hospital around 9 pm. Two hours later she was back with the baby still attached to her placenta.

"She came back with the baby still attached to the umbilical cord. We attended to her and gave her Oxytocin," said Dr Rajendra Patni in charge at the CHC Sanganer, adding "she is fine and recovering now."

Doctors at Jaipuria Hospital, however, deny that they told Ashoka Bai to go elsewhere.

"At the time she came we had three deliveries already happening, we had patients outside in the OPD, we were attending to them by turns. Why would we single one patient out and ask them to go back," said Dr Shivani Joshi, the attending gynecologist.

"When I heard she had delivered on the road I rushed out to help her," said Dr Radha Agarwal, the resident at the ward. "I had scissors with me and a nurse but her family members assaulted me and they refused to bring the patient inside."

The women's commission is now inquiring into the matter.

"When on one side the government insists we should have deliveries in hospitals and then something like this happens in one of Jaipur's better hospitals... the chief minister and the health department are going to inquire into the matter. A five-member inquiry committee will submit its report to the government," said Suman Sharma, Chairperson of the state women's commission.