Home birth after hospital refuses entry

Karachi: A woman gave birth to a baby in her home’s bathroom after she was refused entry at a hospital in Punjab’s Raiwind area, Dawn News TV reported.

The woman, wife of a labourer, was taken to the Rural Health Centre Raiwind on Monday evening after she started experiencing labour pains, her relatives said.

But the staff at the health centre refused to admit her, reportedly because of a lack of facilities, and told the woman to return to the hospital in the morning, saying she would not give birth until then.

The family requested the staff to allow them to spend the night at the hospital as they could not afford the transportation cost of coming back.

But the staff refused and forced them to leave the hospital.

The woman was then taken home where she ended up giving birth in a bathroom.

The baby boy fell ill soon after birth and the family had to bring him to the hospital again. He was admitted and is recovering at the health centre.

The woman’s relatives protested at the health centre, saying Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should seal all government hospitals if they cannot provide health facilities to the poor.

The secretary of Punjab’s Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department formed a three-member committee headed by the CEO of Lahore’s District Health Authority to probe the incident.