Newborn dies after woman ‘forced to deliver’ in corridor of govt hospital in K’taka
Bengaluru: In a tragic incident, a newborn died at the state-run Haveri Women and Children’s hospital in Karnataka, allegedly due to the negligence of hospital staff, police said on Wednesday.
Raising a concern regarding the incident, the Karnataka BJP unit has slammed the Congress-led government over “negligence”.
The tragic incident took place at the government-run district hospital on Tuesday, where a pregnant woman, who was suffering from labour pain, was allegedly not even provided a bed and was made to sit on the floor.
While she was on her way to the restroom, she delivered the baby in the hospital corridor, and the baby died.
According to the family, the pregnant woman in labour was forced to sit on the floor for nearly an hour as the staff failed to provide her with a bed.
The woman, Rupa Girish Karabannavar (30), from Kakol village in Ranebennur taluk, was brought to the hospital at around 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
Relatives alleged that when they asked the staff for directions to the restroom, no one provided proper guidance. Eventually, while the woman was on her way to the restroom, she went into sudden labour and delivered the baby in the corridor leading to the toilet.
During the incident, the newborn reportedly sustained injuries and died on the spot.
The woman’s family has accused the doctors and nurses of gross negligence, claiming they failed to provide timely treatment and were instead busy using their mobile phones.
Distraught relatives expressed anger and said that no family should go through such a situation in future.
Commenting on the incident, the Leader of the Opposition, R. Ashoka, slammed the Congress-led government on Wednesday.
“Mr. Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, what is happening in your department, sir? During our previous BJP government, we had planned to set up help desks in all government hospitals to guide poor patients seeking treatment,” he said.
Ashoka criticised the Siddaramaiah government, saying, “The Congress-led government increased healthcare service charges, supplied poor-quality medicines leading to the deaths of pregnant and postpartum women, and shut down Jan Aushadhi stores in government hospital premises.”
He asked the state government to focus on improving government hospitals.