SHILLONG: The state-run Ganesh Das Hospital is in the news for asking a pregnant woman to seat on a wheelchair during delivery.
The 20-year-old woman, whose healthy baby was declared dead on August 30 after normal delivery, said on Sunday that she was asked to sit on a wheelchair while the head of the baby was coming out.
The shocked family said the nurse should have been reasonable to help her deliver the baby on the bed itself instead of forcing her to sit on the chair. “She should have been taken to the labour room and they could have used a stretcher to shift her. It is inhumane,” the family said.
On August 30 just after 2 am, the woman delivered the child in a room near the emergency ward. She was admitted around 9 am on August 29 and around 4 pm she was administered a pill for forced labour.
The woman said when she felt labour pain, her sister went to look for help and even after she informed the nurses about the emergency, they took time to come.
When a nurse finally came, the woman was already in labour in the ward and the nurse made her sit on the wheelchair. The sister and others in the ward objected to this as the head of the baby was out but the nurse said she knew what she was doing.
Narrating the incident, the traumatised woman said other patients and their attendants were astonished at the nurse’s insistence. She was then taken to the room near the emergency room and the child was delivered there. The nurses did not tell her whether it was a boy or a girl even after repeated pleas.
According to the family, the nurse draped the baby with a cloth belonging to the mother and put in a bucket which according to the mother appeared to be a dust bin. There were ants too when the mother found the baby in the bucket.
She was also not informed whether the child was alive or dead. They came to know only after they saw the wrapped body.
The victim said she had heard about such cases in the hospital.
Health Minister A L Hek sought a report on the matter.
According to Hek, though the hospital authorities had made some verbal clarifications, he wanted their explanation in writing.
The discharge slip says she delivered the dead foetus on August 30 at 3.35 am
However, the patient’s sister had called up home around 3 am to inform her parents that her younger sister has delivered a baby.
The CSWO who was informed about the incident has filed an RTI to seek further information into the matter and demanded action against those responsible for this “criminal negligence”.