Agartala:
A pregnant woman gave birth at the entrance of a state-run hospital in Tripura’s capital Agartala as she was left unattended in extreme labour for hours after testing positive for COVID-19, claimed her family members. The woman gave birth while waiting for an ambulance for being shifted to a Covid hospital.
The attendants and the other people in the hospital rushed to help the woman only after she gave birth. A doctor at the state-run IGM hospital, wearing a PPE kit, came out to examine the patient and took her along with the child inside the hospital. They were later shifted to GBP hospital, a COVID-19 facility.
BJP MLA and Chairman of the patient welfare committee of the IGM hospital has said that the incident happened since there was a delay in shifting the patient to a COVID-19 hospital. Both the mother and child are stable at the COVID hospital, he informed.
“After the patient tested positive, she had to be shifted to COVID-19 hospital as per protocol, it was informed to the family members. There was a delay in the arrival of the ambulance. Now, the woman has delivered the baby and both mother and child are stable,” said Dr. Dilip Das.
According to eyewitnesses, on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday , a pregnant woman was rushed to the IGM hospital with extreme labour pain, where she tested and found covid positive. The IGM hospital authority told the family to shift her to GBP hospital. They waited on the hospital’s ground floor for an ambulance for more than an hour. They requested the IGM hospital authority to admit her as the patient was in extreme pain but the security guard did not allow them to enter the hospital.
After some time, she delivered a baby right at the entrance.
There are lots of allegations against the health infrastructure in Tripura, such as there is no oxygen supply in Covid ICUs, etc. Ashish Kumar Saha, one of the ruling party’s MLA, has also written a letter to the Chief Minister over these problems.