PREGNANT WOMAN MADE TO WAIT FOR 11 HRS IN HOSP

A pregnant woman was on Tuesday forced to wait for over 11 hours in the verandah of district headquarters hospital at Paralakhemundi in Gajapati after the medical authorities allegedly refused treatment citing that she had come from a village which has been declared Covid buffer zone by the administration, reports said on Wednesday.

The woman, a resident of Bhusukudi was admitted to the Maternity and Child Health Centre of the hospital on Tuesday morning. After the medical staff realised that she had come from a Covid buffer zone and her husband who had recently returned from other state and is in quarantine, they asked her family members to leave with the patient. However, the family members stayed put. They reportedly waited in the hospital unattended till 9pm.

Bhusukudi village, situated on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, is in the vicinity of an AP village which has reported a few Covid-19 cases.

Later, following the intervention of local Paralakhemundi MLA K. Narayan Rao and Zilla Parishad member, the woman was re-admitted to the hospital. She was kept in an isolation room.

The woman’s attendant, D. Saileswar Rao said, “When we arrived at the hospital at around 10.30am on Tuesday, the doctors initially admitted her and started the treatment. They informed us about the C-section immediately and asked to arrange blood. When we arrived with the blood, the hospital authorities suddenly asked us to leave and come back only after getting her examined for Covid-19.”