Pregnant woman delivers in auto after Govandi hospital sends her home

A 27-year-old woman from Govandi had a baby boy in an autorickshaw on Wednesday night, barely six hours after a doctor at the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital told her to go home, though she was in pain, and return in 15 days.

A 27-year-old woman from Govandi had a baby boy in an autorickshaw on Wednesday night, barely six hours after a doctor at the civic-run Shatabdi Hospital told her to go home, though she was in pain, and return in 15 days.

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At home, Reshma Qureshi went into labour and had to be rushed back. She had her baby in the autorickshaw at the hospital gates around 10.30 pm. Nurses rushed to the vehicle and carried the mother and child inside.

Reshma’s husband Nadeem said: “The doctor’s negligence put my wife’s and child’s lives at risk.” The doctor could not be contacted for comment.

Dr Suprabha Amble, who is now treating Reshma, said: “In the file, the examining doctor has written that the uterus was relaxed. So, I think she must have gone into labour after the check-up.”

Hospital superintendent, Dr Pramod Potnis, was not aware of the case. The baby’s file lists it as a ‘rickshaw delivery’.

On March 11, HT had reported that last December, Shatabdi hospital had turned away a woman in labour as it is not equipped to handle complicated deliveries. The patient gave birth outside Sion Hospital but the baby died.

The 210-bed Shatabdi hospital — the only public hospital for 10 lakh residents of Govandi, Mankhurd and Trombay — is ill equipped and under-staffed.

“I had gone to Shatabdi Hospital at 4.30 pm as I was in pain. The doctor asked me not to worry and to come back on April 3,” Reshma said.