At St George hospital, which is a designated COVID-19 hospital, a doctor said they had not started a ward for women afflicted by coronavirus. (Representational Image)

With her delivery date approaching, a 29-year-old woman who had tested positive for the coronavirus reached out to at least 10 hospitals over the last two days only to be told that beds were not available or the gynaecology department was shut. Her ordeal ended 32 hours later after two elected political representatives intervened following appeals by her panic-stricken husband.

The Null Bazaar resident was finally admitted to BYL Nair Hospital on Wednesday. “I was ready to sell my house to pay for the expenses only if some would admit her,” her husband, who owns a cycle business, said.

With at least two Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) maternity homes converted into COVID-19 centres, childbirth facilities have been affected. At Naigaon, where the civic body has setup a dedicated maternity home for pregnant coronavirus-afflicted women, no specialisation is available for critical cases. In several cases, pregnant women have been referred to other hospitals.

Corporator Rais Shaikh, who along with MLA Amin Patel had to intervene to get the 29-year-old woman admitted to Nair hospital, said he has received multiple complaints from pregnant women from south Mumbai. “Pregnant woman are usually registered with separate hospitals and maternity homes for treatment. Now that several hospitals are shut or have become
quarantine centres, ante-natal care and check-ups have stopped. In an emergency, a woman has to run around to different hospitals,” he said.

The 29-year-old woman, who underwent a coronavirus test last week based on a government advisory, was tested positive Tuesday. “Because she is pregnant, we did not want to take chances of complications. I got her tested at a private laboratory,” her husband said. The private laboratory informed the BMC after the woman tested positive for the virus, following which civic officials disinfected their house on Tuesday, put her husband under quarantine and shifted neighbours to a quarantine centre.

“From then onward, I have been making calls to hospitals since I cannot physically go out. Her due date is April 17. All the hospitals I approached refused to admit her,” the 30 year old said. He said he had called up KEM, St George, Gokuldas Tejpal, Kasturba, Wadia, Saifee, Seven Hills, Fortis, Nair and Nanavati hospitals.

At St George hospital, which is a designated COVID-19 hospital, a doctor said they had not started a ward for women afflicted by coronavirus. “We are in the process of setting up such a ward. Until then we cannot admit her,” the doctor said. The doctor said they had called a few maternity homes and also enquired with Cama & Albless hospital, but nobody was willing to admit a coronavirus patient due to the risk of transmission.

While Nanavati hospital had initially told the 30-year-old man that no beds were available, the hospital later agreed to conduct delivery but charged Rs 4-4.5 lakh fee, he claimed. “I don’t know how soon I could arrange for such the sum,” he said.

Seven Hills and Saifee hospitals, meanwhile, cited non-availability of beds. When contacted, medical director of Saifee hospital said they have not received a query from any such patient.

A spokesperson from Fortis hospital, Mulund, said, “The family enquired over the phone about the possibility of conducting the delivery of a COVID-19 positive patient. The case was discussed with our panel of medical experts, and the possibility of conducting this delivery was reviewed. The consensus was that we are not prepped to conduct COVID-19 positive patient deliveries yet, and that was conveyed to the family.”

At KEM Hospital, dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh said a caesarean delivery may be required for the women. “There needs to be a segregated facility to avoid infection risk to other pregnant women.

We don’t have a separate facility, so we are not doing deliveries for confirmed COVID-19 patients,” Dr Deshmukh said. Dr RN Bharmal, dean of Nair hospital, too, said they did not have a separate facility for pregnant women afflicted with coronavirus.

A medical officer of C Ward, of which Null Bazaar is a part, said he too had called various government hospitals to get the woman admitted for delivery. “I called Cama & Albless, KEM, St George and JJ hospitals myself after her husband asked for help,” he said. While none of the hospitals agreed to admit the woman, he said that he had reached out to BMC’s health officers group to help the woman.

A civic official said the woman was consulting Masina hospital for ante-natal check-ups. “But even they didn’t have a facility where coronavirus positive patients could give birth, so they refused admission,” he said.

On Wednesday evening, the 30-year-old man finally reached out to Patel and Shaikh for help. After a struggle of 32 hours, the woman was admitted to Nair hospital. Shaikh reached out to BMC to arrange for an ambulance to take the woman to the hospital which agreed to create a special facility for her.

Vanessa D’Souza, from NGO Sneha, said government resources are squeezed right now. “Government hospitals have challenges because more of their resources have been directed towards coronavirus management. But when we approach civic officials, they do try and provide a delivery facility to normal pregnant women,” she said.