Gurugram hospital refers woman to Safdarjung, she delivers stillborn in ambulance

GURUGRAM: A week after a woman in labour had a miscarriage in a Civil Hospital toilet on April 19 — she was made to wait for two hours by the doctors — another woman suffered similar ignominy and heartbreak, when she was made to wait for two-and-a-half hours for doctor’s attention while in advanced labour, and then referred to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital while fully dilated, ostensibly because of some complications. She delivered a stillborn in the ambulance before it could leave hospital premises.
The incident took place at around 10am on Wednesday. Sonia (29) lives in Daultabad village and already has three daughters. Her husband later rued they lost the boy she was carrying due to negligence. She is herself admitted in the gynaecology ward and reportedly weak but stable.

Two days before, Sonia had visited the community health centre in Daultabad, complaining she could not feel the child moving inside her.

An ultrasound revealed she was 28 weeks pregnant, with haemoglobin level only 5.8 gm where the normal is 13-14 gm.

On Wednesday morning, she experienced severe labour cramps. When her water broke, she was brought to the hospital at around 6.20am. But she was made to wait till 9am, when Dr Jyoti Dabas and Dr Akshita, who were on OPD duty, checked her and noticed the child was popping in and out, with its fist also visible, indicating she was due any moment.

But instead of doing a C-Section or offering other medical assistance, she was referred to Safdarjung Hospital around 9.25am.

In severe pain, she searched for an ambulance with her husband, with no help from hospital staff. A nurse spotted her near the ICU ward and brought her to the gynaecology ward, where junior doctor-on-duty Harpreet Kalsi examined her again, noted she was due any moment, but again referred her to Delhi.

Sonia was shifted to an ambulance, but before it could leave the hospital premises, she delivered a premature boy. The mother and child were immediately admitted to the maternity ward, but the child was declared dead.

“The doctors knew she was due any moment, but did not help. He died, and now my wife is in critical condition. They are saying Sonia might have suffered intra-uterine death, but why was she denied delivery on priority?” said Sonia’s husband Jai Dev.

Later, deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh has ordered an inquiry in the matter and sought a report from the district health department. “We’ve ordered an inquiry by the medical negligence board. If any doctor is found guilty, disciplinary action will be taken,” said chief medical officer Dr B K Rajora.

Notably, a dead fetus inside the womb can be fatal for the mother. In this case, Sonia, with low haemoglobin, was already very weak. Yet, she was referred to Delhi, when, during morning peak hours, it would have taken over an hour just to transport her there.

Civil Hospital has a sordid record in this regard. On February 14, doctors had referred a fully dilated woman suffering from Hepatitis B to Delhi. As per government guideline, she needed a C-Section, but ended up delivering normally in the ambulance.

After this incident, Dr Rajora had issued instructions that pregnant women or infants should not be referred elsewhere, and that every pregnant woman was to be received at the Pregnant Woman Reception Room by a doctor and nurse.

Clearly, the changes remained on paper. A senior health official told TOI, “This is not a tertiary care hospital. If somehow the child were delivered here, it wouldn’t have survived as the hospital doesn’t have that kind of medical facilities.”