Turned away by hospital, woman gives birth on footpath

A woman gave birth to a premature baby girl on the footpath outside the municipal maternity home at Mahim on Monday after the hospital allegedly turned her away.

A woman gave birth to a premature baby girl on the footpath outside the municipal maternity home at Mahim on Monday after the hospital allegedly turned her away.

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Kishorilal Gohil brought his wife, Rekha, to the maternity home when she started experiencing labour pain. The doctors examined Rekha and, despite Gohil’s protests, directed the couple to Sion Hospital saying it was pre-mature labour because Rekha was only eight months pregnant.

When Gohil went to fetch a taxi, Rekha was told to go out of the hospital. She stepped out and started crying for help.

Sagar Mansinghani (27), who lives in Anand Bhuvan building nearby, rushed to the spot. “She was begging me to help her. I rushed to the hospital but the staff ignored me,” Mansinghani alleged. “Before I could figure out what to do, she delivered the baby on the footpath.”

The hospital authorities refused to talk. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, that runs the hospital, said it would inquire into the matter. “The guilty will not be spared,” Dr G.T. Ambe, BMC’s executive health officer, said.

Mansinghani said the hospital staff came only after the police arrived. “They cut the umbilical cord on the footpath and made the woman walk into the hospital,” he said. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists led by local leaders Sandeep Deshpande and Rita Gupta rushed to the spot and surrounded the hospital staff. Gupta warned the hospital that if things do not improve, the MNS would “handle” it their way. The mother and child were later shifted to Sion Hospital.