Refused admission by hospital, migrant woman delivers baby on Jammu-Pathankot highway

Woman’s husband said, “my wife Neelam Devi developed labour pain this morning and I rushed her to Samba district hospital. However, doctors at the hospital asked me to get her Covid-19 negative report.”

After hospital authorities allegedly refused to hospitalise a pregnant woman without Covid-19 negative report, the latter delivered her baby on the roadside in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district on Sunday. The woman was a migrant labourer from Bihar.

Locals came to the rescue and made phone calls to the hospital after which an ambulance with a nurse arrived. (HT Photo)

Her husband, Darvinder Kumar, said, “my wife Neelam Devi developed labour pain this morning and I rushed her to Samba district hospital. However, doctors at the hospital asked me to get her Covid-19 negative report.”

“None helped me at the hospital and when I was taking her to Jammu, she delivered on the roadside on Jammu-Pathankot highway,” he said.

Locals came to the rescue and made phone calls to the hospital after which an ambulance with a nurse arrived. The mother and her newborn were provided with first-aid and were later taken to the hospital. Repeated calls to chief medical officer (SMO) Dr Rajinder Samyal remained unanswered.