29-year-old delivers baby at Mumbai’s Dombivli station amid chaos

Shaikh, a resident of Khadavli, near Titwala, who was nine months pregnant, had boarded a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-bound train to get to Cama Hospital, after doctors in Khadavli referred her there.

A 29-year-old woman delivered a baby boy on a platform at Dombivli railway station amid peak-hour chaos caused by train delays on Wednesday. Women commuters cordoned off a corner on platform number three and covered Jasmine Shabbir Shaikh with their stoles and dupattas as she delivered the baby around 7.30am.

asmine Shabbir Shaikh with her baby boy at a Dombivli hospital on Wednesday. (HT Photo)

Shaikh, a resident of Khadavli, near Titwala, who was nine months pregnant, had boarded a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT)-bound train to get to Cama Hospital, after doctors in Khadavli referred her there.

However, before the train reached Dombivli, she started experiencing labour pains. When the train pulled into Dombivli station, other commuters helped Shaikh alight. Suleiman Shaikh, 35, her brother-in-law who was accompanying her, said the train was not crowded at Khadavli.

“Doctors in Khadavli referred her to Cama Hospital as her case was critical. This is her third child [She has a seven-year-old boy and three-year-old girl]. We booked a first-class ticket and boarded the train at Khadavli and also got a seat,” he said.

“As there is not much rush at Khadavli, and we had to get down at the last station, we did not think there would be any problems during the journey,” added Suleiman.

“Women commuters immediately rushed to her help and made space for her. Fortunately, there were two nurses from a private hospital on the platform. They helped with the delivery,” said S Pawar, senior police inspector of Dombivli Government Railway Police (GRP). “The baby was delivered by the time staff of the One Rupee Clinic at the station came.”

Dr Akshay Vishe, a doctor at the One Rupee Clinic, said, “When we reached the patient, she had already delivered the baby, so we helped in cutting the umbilical cord. Both the mother and baby were healthy and we shifted them to the civic-run Shastrinagar Hospital in Dombivli.” The baby weighs around 2.15kg, said the doctor.

On Wednesday, the Central Railway’s (CR) decision to operate fewer local trains (according to its Sunday schedule) resulted in overcrowded trains, stations and stampede-like situations on platforms and foot overbridges of suburban railway stations.