Navi Mumbai: Lack of timely medical aid to a woman and her newborn child led to their tragic death. The woman had given birth to the boy in the toilet of a running train.
Anjana Saha, 30, from West Bengal had eloped with her lover, Indrajeet Sarkar, and the couple had settled in Kolhapur. Last week, the husband, who is a labourer, had admitted the pregnant Saha in the Kolhapur Government Hospital after she complained of discomfort. However, Saha learnt that her husband had actually abandoned her. “She left the hospital looking for him, and ended up boarding a train to Chiplun,” a relative of the woman said.
At Chiplun Railway Station, police spotted the distressed Saha and took her mother’s contact number from her. “They called her mother in West Bengal and told her about Saha’s condition. The mother gave the police the contact number of her other daughter’s husband, who lives in Mumbai. The police contacted him and asked him to reach Chiplun,” the relative added.
On Sunday, Saha and her brother-in-law boarded a Chiplun-Dadar train. Around 11.30 a.m., when the train reached Kasu station on the Panvel-Roha route, Saha started getting stomach cramps and went to the toilet. She ended up delivering the baby, who accidentally fell through the toilet opening onto the tracks. Saha raised an alarm, and passengers pulled the chain. Once the train stopped, the infant was taken out unhurt.
Saha and the baby were taken to Gadap Civil Hospital near Kasu, from where they were asked to be taken to Panvel Rural Hospital.
“At Panvel Hospital, the doctors said their condition was too critical and they had to be treated at the NMMC General Hospital, Vashi,” the relative said.
The mother and son were brought to NMMC Hospital on Sunday evening, but by Sunday night, the infant was declared dead. Ms. Saha died on Wednesday night.
Medical Superintendent Dr. Prashant Zawade from NMMC Hospital said, “The baby was underweight, born at only 1.4 kg. Babies with such a low birth weight need be kept in incubators immediately, and need immediate medical aid. The baby was critical when he was brought here. We tried our best, but he could not be saved. He had septicaemia, and the infection had started spreading through his body.”
He added that Saha had chest congestion and her liver enzymes had increased. “She had swelling in her lungs as well as liver. It seems that she had some chronic disease, possibly tuberculosis, which was untreated. Hence her health had deteriorated after delivery. It is difficult to say if she would have survived if medical help had reached her immediately. But the child could have been saved if he had received immediate access to an incubator,” Dr. Zawade said.
