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| Docs on strike, woman gives birth in taxi | | | Mumbai | Apr 20
In a distressing fallout of the ongoing doctors' strike across public hospitals in the state, a woman delivered a baby girl in a taxi at Mahim after being turned away from the civic-run Bhabha Hospital in Bandra. Both the mother and her seven-pound baby are doing fine.
There are indications that the three-day strike is likely to come to an end by Sunday, after a satisfactory round of talks with the minister for medical education Dilip Walse-Patil in Pune late on Saturday.
Seema Bano and her garment-vendor husband Ishraar Ahmed from Bandra's Behramnagar slum, said they reached the hospital at 7.30 am on Saturday. Seema had already begun to have contractions. "In the delivery room we were told that there were no doctors and so we should go to casualty. A man there told us that the doctors were on strike and that Seema couldn't be admitted," said Ishraar.
The harried couple got into a taxi hoping to rush to Sion Hospital since they couldn't afford a private hospital. But on Mahim Causeway, at the Fisherman's Colony junction, Seema went into labour. In under an hour, the baby was delivered, with the help of several fisherwomen who rallied around.
Sena corporator Santosh Parab, out on a jog, saw the crowd. "I stayed with the husband as the women were helping the mother," he said. Parab helped Seema get to Dr Jagtap's nursing home nearby.
The couple is still recovering from the trauma of a taxi delivery. "Only I know the humiliation and pain I have been through," said an agitated Seema, her temper fraying rapidly at the media blitz her delivery had provoked. "I was registered at Bhabha and went for a check-up on Wednesday. I was told that I was due in May." Civic authorities said the couple must have been misled as Bhabha Hospital recorded 15 deliveries on Saturday.
"The professors and paramedical staff were all on duty," said BMC's additional commissioner Kishore Gajbhiye. "We couldn't have turned away a woman in labour. Maybe the couple heard from someone that there was a strike and panicked or they drew their own inferences."
The couple is anxious about the nursing home bill and hopes someone will help them out. "We have already paid Rs 2,100 so far," said Ishraar, who had borrowed money for the hospitalisation.
Civic authorities said the couple must have been misled since Bhabha Hospital recorded 15 deliveries on Saturday.
"The professors and paramedical staff were all on duty," said BMC's additional commissioner Kishore Gajbhiye. "We couldn't have turned away a woman in labour. Maybe the couple heard from someone that there was a strike and panicked or they drew their own inferences."
Taxi driver Suleiman Shaikh told passers-by that the couple had almost broken down outside Bhabha Hospital after doctors turned them away saying, "Aap ko maalum nahin hai, strike hain?" |
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