Twins die at childbirth after MP hospital refuses to treat HIV-afflicted woman

Relatives said the hospital staffers flatly refused to attend to the woman after examining the pathology reports, and instead drove her out of the maternity ward on Tuesday night. The twins died soon after childbirth early the next day.

A pair of twins delivered by an HIV-afflicted woman died during childbirth outside the maternity ward of the Tikamgarh district hospital on Wednesday, after staffers refused to attend to her.

Hospital staffers refused to attend to the pregnant woman, insisting that she be taken to a hospital in Jhansi. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The 24-year-old woman, who hails from a village located about 70 km from the district headquarters, was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday evening after she complained of labour pain. Relatives said the hospital staffers flatly refused to attend to the woman after examining the pathology reports, and instead drove her out of the maternity ward around 11 pm the same night.

“She was crying in pain, but instead of taking her to the labour room, they pushed us out of the maternity ward,” the woman’s mother-in-law said. “The nurses and doctor on duty said they were referring her to Jhansi because of her HIV affliction. I begged them to let us stay because we didn’t have the money to hire an ambulance, but they would not listen.”

The woman lay outside the maternity ward for a few hours when she began experiencing severe labour pain around 3 am. “In desperation, we forced our way into the maternity ward and requested the nurses and doctor on duty to attend to her. But we were greeted with the same reply. So she continued lying on the floor. Even when the twins were born early the next morning, nobody came forward to help. They died about half-an-hour later,” the mother-in-law said.

It was only after the woman’s relatives created a ruckus and registered a complaint with the hospital authorities that she was finally admitted.

However, Tikamgarh civil surgeon RS Dandotiya claimed they had little choice in the matter. “No negligence was found on the part of the hospital administration,” he said. “As the woman was infected with HIV, we could not take the risk of allowing her into the hospital’s labour room. We referred the woman to a hospital in Jhansi, but they just wouldn’t take her there. The babies died because they were unhealthy, and were delivered in the eighth month of pregnancy.”

Minister of state for health Sharad Jain termed the death of the infants as an “unfortunate” incident. “I will take strict action against the hospital administration,” he added

(With inputs from Anupam Pateriya in Sagar)