Woman delivers baby in wheelchair; Meghalaya HC ticks case

Baby declared dead more than an hour after delivery; Health Minister seeks report from hospital

September 12, 2018 02:05 am | Updated 02:05 am IST - GUWAHATI

The Meghalaya High Court has taken note of the case of a woman who lost her baby after being made to sit in a wheelchair during delivery in a government-run hospital in Shillong.

The court of Chief Justice S.R. Sen and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, clubbing the case taken on “suo motu cognisance of deficiencies in health services” in Meghalaya with a previous case, on Tuesday sought a report in this regard from the State government.

A 20-year-old woman was admitted in Shillong’s Ganesh Das Hospital around 9 a.m. on August 29 and was administered a pill for forced labour at 4 p.m. She delivered the baby in a room near the emergency ward after 2 a.m. on August 30.

The baby was declared dead more than an hour later. The discharge slip from the hospital said the woman delivered a dead foetus on August 30 at 3.35 a.m., though the woman’s sister had called up her family to break the news of a “healthy baby” having been delivered.

Wheeled to labour room

Three days later, the woman said that she was asked to sit in a wheelchair while the head of the baby was emerging. Women’s rights activists, who stood beside her, said the nurses should have helped her deliver the baby on the bed instead of forcing her to sit on the wheelchair, or a stretcher should have been used to take her to the labour room. The nurses wheeled her to a room near the emergency section where the baby was delivered. “Despite repeated pleas, the nurses did not say whether the baby was a boy or a girl. A nurse wrapped the baby in a piece of cloth and put it in a bucket that appeared to be a trash basket full of ants,” she was reported as saying.

Meghalaya Health Minister Alexander L. Hek said he has sought a report from the hospital in writing, though the authorities had clarified verbally.

“We came to know two more babies died on the night this lady was made to sit inhumanly on a wheelchair during delivery. We have sought information on the number of newborn deaths in the hospital over the years,” rights activist Agnes Kharshiing told The Hindu .

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