‘MAKE A LIST OF MATERNITY HOMES AND CHILDBIRTHS’

HC TELLS BMC

The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file an affidavit enumerating the clinics and maternity homes attending to pregnant women in the city and also the number of deliveries conducted in these medical centres over the past couple of weeks. The directions were issued in response to a PIL seeking appropriate measures to be put in place for care and treatment of expecting women.

The PIL was filed by advocate Mohiuddin Vaid after he saw a news report about a pregnant woman being refused admission to four hospitals, including Sir JJ Hospital, as she did not have a Covid negative report.

Vaid sought directions for appropriate measures to be put in place for expecting women to be attended to. However, state lawyer Jyoti Chavan opposed the allegation and said no such incident was reported at JJ Hospital.

Senior counsel Anil Sakhare for BMC submitted that there are many maternity homes and clinics and the woman could have availed their services. Accepting Sakhare’s request, HC directed BMC to file a response. “BMC should indicate the names and particulars of maternity homes and clinics which are attending to expecting women and the number of deliveries that have been conducted in such maternity homes and clinics over the past couple of weeks,” the bench said and posted the matter for hearing on May 22.

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