Woman delivers baby outside Safdarjung hosp emergency

A 21 year-old woman delivered her baby on the floor outside the emergency department of Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday morning, with the family alleging that she spent the night there after not being let inside the maternity ward or labour room.

Taking note of the incident, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Tuesday issued a notice to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital after a woman delivered her baby outside its emergency wing as she was allegedly denied admission by the Centre-run facility, and sought a report in the matter.

This comes after a video of the woman delivering her baby went viral on social media. The Union health ministry has also sought a report from the hospital in the matter.

In the video, some women are seen standing around the pregnant woman with a saree, covering her during the delivery. Some nurses are also seen at the spot.The woman’s relatives are heard alleging that the hospital did not admit her on Monday and she spent the night outside its emergency department.The hospital has also initiated an inquiry into the incident, according to sources. “The woman, a resident of Khera, Ghaziabad, and her baby have been admitted to the hospital and both are doing well. They are being treated under a senior doctor in the gynaecology department,” said Manoj C, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Southwest district.  The Delhi Commission for Women said taking suo-motu cognisance of the video, it has issued a notice to Safdarjung Hospital seeking details of its inquiry report and action taken against its staff for alleged medical negligence. The commission said it has also sought an action taken report from the hospital by July 25. “Such incidents, where even reputed government hospitals deny admission and care to critical patients, break the trust of common people in the public healthcare system. I have issued a notice to Safdarjung Hospital and have asked the hospital authorities to fix accountability in the matter,” said DCW chief Swati Maliwal. “The incident is shameful and urgent steps must be taken to ensure action against the negligent officers and to rectify the situation so that it is never repeated again,” she added. Meanwhile, Sarfdarjung Hospital in a statement issued on Tuesday said that in an unbooked case, a 21 year-old patient was referred from Dadri on July 18. “As Safdarjung Hospital has a no refusal policy, she was examined by the senior resident on duty at 5:45 pm on July 18 and her condition was found to be 33+6 weeks gestation with preeclampsia in early labor. The patient was offered admission but she did not return with the admission paper,” the statement read.

“The next day the senior resident on morning duty was informed that a patient was delivering outside. A team from gynaecology department was dispatched immediately and the patient’s delivery was taken care of,” statement further read.

“The patient is currently admitted and the baby, weighing 1.4 kg is admitted in nursery nine in view of low birth weight. Both are in stable condition. There are six doctors, including two senior residents (SR) posted in the Gynae receiving room round the clock,” said the spokesperson of the hospital.