23-year-old Sangeeta Rai, a resident of Sector-10 jhuggi in Noida went to the district hospital of Noida on Monday as she was suffering labour pangs, but the nurse on duty said she had low haemoglobin count and blood was required, so she should arrange that first before being admitted.
Sangeeta fell unconscious at the main gate of the hospital. Fortunately for her, a man passing by in a Maruti car helped her and the woman gave birth to a son inside the car itself.
Sangeeta’s mother-in-law Kiran Devi alleged that the staff in the hospital demanded bribe.
The in- laws of the woman said they took her to the hospital in sector 39 after she went into labour about 6 am on Monday.
“ The hospital staff told us she was anaemic and asked us to arrange for five units of blood.
They also asked us to pay Rs 12,000. We didn’t have the money and requested them to admit Sangeeta immediately while we made arrangements for the payment. But they refused to do so,” Sangeeta’s father- inlaw Rajendra Rai said.
Following the refusal Rajendra tried to arrange for the money.
“ A nurse got my daughter- in- law seated on a chair outside the ward. I left the hospital assuring the nurse that we would arrange the money and blood in a short while. My wife Kiran stayed behind. But when I returned neither Sangeeta nor Kiran were to be seen,” he said.
While Rajendra was busy arranging the sum, Sangeeta’s pain had intensified and she left the hospital with Kiran. They hired a rickshaw but Sangeeta was not able to sit in it for long.
She alighted from the rickshaw on the Nithari Sector- 31 road and lay on the ground writhing in pain.
Ramesh Yadav, a Sector- 12 resident who was passing by, saw the women in distress and offered to take Sangeeta to a hospital in his car.
“ I saw this woman on the Nithari road and people had gathered around her. I stopped my car and went to see what had happened.
“ I offered to take them to a hospital and got them into my car . But we had hardly gone about half a kilometre when she gave birth to a boy. I then took her to the Tripathi Hospital at the sector 12- 22 crossing ,” Yadav, who is an automobile lubricant trader, said.
Meanwhile, Rajendra got news that Sangeeta had been taken to the Tripathi hospital and rushed there. “ We reached the hospital at 7 am from where we got Sangeeta discharged and took the mother and child back home,” he said.
Rajendra has alleged that the Noida district hospital had denied them treatment because they were poor.
“ It was a government hospital meant primarily for the poor. We have complained to the district magistrate ( DM) in writing about the ill- treatment meted out to us,” Sangeeta’s brother- in- law Satish said.
After the incident came to the media’s notice, the district administration acted swiftly in the business of whitewashing and blame-shifting.
On the district magistrate’s orders, the hospital authorities called Sangeeta to get admitted to the hospital again for treatment.
The chief medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Meena Mishra, said: “ We came to know of the matter only through media reports and then the DM called us. We despatched a car to their residence immediately but the family refused to come.
“ I will try to persuade them to come to the hospital and if need be, will go to their house to record their statements. I want them to identify the staff members who demanded money from them so that action can be taken against the guilty,” Dr Mishra said.
She added that the guilty will not be spared and that for the time being she has issued a general warning. “ Harsh action will be taken,” she said.
Deepak Agarwal, the DM, said: “ The women ( Sangeeta and Kiran) told us that a darkskinned woman had demanded money from them. But they are refusing to identify that woman. Further, there is no record of their visit to the hospital. Otherwise we would have hauled the staff on night duty. In the absence of proof, it is difficult to punish anyone. However, we have set up an enquiry committee to look into the matter.”
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