Woman gives birth on moving train, newborn dies

Ranchi: A 21-year-old-woman from Lohardaga gave birth to a child on board a train near Hatia station, 7km from here, on Wednesday. The woman, identified as one Inder Muni Devi, is a resident of Lohardaga and was travelling from Ernakulam to Ranchi on Allappuzha-Dhanbad Express. The woman’s husband, Hari Lal Kherawal, said when the train was approaching Hatia railway station around 7.30am, Inder went into labour and delivered a boy inside the moving train. “We called railway’s helpline number (138) to seek medical help for my wife and the newborn. Unfortunately, no doctors attended us. The child died soon after,” Kherawal alleged.
However, officials of the South Eastern Railway’s Ranchi division said doctors responded to their call immediately. “We received an SOS call a few minutes before the train reached Hatia. An on-duty railway doctor, Dr Manisha Verma, was immediately sent to S8 coach in which the couple was travelling. But the woman’s husband did not allow the doctor to attend to the newborn and demanded an ambulance to reach Ranchi,” chief public relations officer (Ranchi division) Neeraj Kumar said, adding, “We immediately arranged for an ambulance for the mother and her child to be taken to Ranchi sadar hospital.”

Speaking to TOI, Verma said: “When I reached the coach with some railway officials, the lady was not responding. She was in a state of shock. We were worried about her placenta position but she was not cooperating.” Verma claimed that the family later gave it in writing that the infant had died on the train.

Ranchi civil surgeon Dr V B Prasad said the child was brought dead to the hospital. “Prima facie it appears that the infant was born premature and died at the time of its birth. However, the mother is stable now,” Prasad said.