Pregnant woman dies as 8 hospitals deny her treatment

nNOIDA/GHAZIABAD: A 30-year-old woman in the advanced stage of pregnancy died on Friday after she was allegedly denied treatment by at least eight government and private hospitals in Noida and Ghaziabad due to nonavailability of beds. The woman was driven in an autorickshaw from one hospital to another for about six hours, her family said.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY has ordered a probe into the matter.

The eight-month pregnant woman, Neelam, was a resident of Azad Vihar in Khoda colony, Ghaziabad. According to her family, she had complained of breathlessness on Friday morning and was first rushed by her husband to the ESIC hospital in Noida’s Sector 24 at 6am.

“Our ordeal continued till her death at 7.30pm at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS). We brought her body back to Ghazipur by midnight and performed the last rites. It’s our request to authorities to take steps so that no other woman suffers such a painful death,” said Shailendra Kumar, Neelam’s brother-in-law.

According to the family, they took her to seven hospitals in Gautam Budh Nagar and one (Max Hospital in Vaishali) in Ghaziabad.

“At the ESIC hospital, the staff told us to go to the district hospital in Sector 30. There also she was denied medical help. She was being checked at Shivalik hospital in Noida, but they too, did not admit her,” said Bijender

Singh, Neelam’s husband.

The family took her to private hospitals but they all turned her away citing lack of beds.

The family then took her to the GIMS, and then to a hospital in Vaishali and finally back to GIMS where she was declared brought dead.

Dr Rakesh Gupta, director, GIMS, said, “They had called us in the evening, but we didn’t have a bed. They returned to the hospital in again, but by then the woman had died.”

Shailendra, who owns an auto and drove Neelam around, said most hospitals denied her admission saying they don’t have vacant beds while some referred her to higher hospitals.

“She kept crying in pain. I drove her for about six hours in my auto. In between, a private hospital arranged an ambulance when her condition deteriorated further, and I paid ₹5,800 to the driver,” Shailendra said.

Taking note of the alleged negligence by the hospitals, the district magistrate called for an inquiry in the matter.

“The probe will be done by ADM (finance) MN Upadhyay and chief medical officer Dr Deepak Ohri. They have been asked to take prompt action in the case,” a statement released by the DM’S office said.

“We have spoken to the family. We will find out what went wrong. Action will be taken against the hospitals if found responsible after a thorough investigation,” said Upadhyay, ADM (finance).

Atul Garg, Uttar Pradesh health minister said, “I will inquire into the incident . I had no information about the case.”