20-year-old goes into labour on train, delivers baby in ₹1 clinic at Thane railway station

There are 19 ₹1 clinics at the Central Railway stations which have 24-hour outpatient wards, three MBBS doctors and visiting MD specialists.

A 20-year-old woman from Ratnagiri, who was travelling to Mumbai by train, delivered a baby girl in the ₹1 clinic at Thane railway station on Saturday morning.

Medical staff with the newborn. (Praful Gangurde/ HT Photo)

Pooja Chauhan, who was in her ninth month of pregnancy, was on board the Konkan Kanya Express with her husband and relatives, when she began experiencing labour pain.

Around 5.40am, the train reached Thane station, following which, Chauhan’s relatives informed the station master’s office of the situation. The station master’s office then contacted the staff of the ₹1 clinic at the station.

“By the time our doctors and support staff [arrived], the baby was already crowning. We shifted the woman to the clinic on a stretcher, where our doctors performed the delivery,” said Dr Rahul Ghule, co-founder of the ₹1 clinics. The woman and the newborn were then shifted to Thane Civil Hospital for further care.

“The baby girl weighs 2.4kg and is perfectly healthy. In deliveries that take place during transit, there is a risk of infection or complications to the baby. However, the patient was fortunate to receive timely medical care,” said Dr Kailash Pawar, surgeon, Thane Civil Hospital. Chauhan is the seventh passenger to deliver a baby at the ₹1 clinic.

There are 19 ₹1 clinics at the Central Railway stations which have 24-hour outpatient wards, three MBBS doctors and visiting MD specialists.

The clinics charge ₹1 as a symbolic gesture.