Chasing Hospitals for 13 Hrs, Pregnant UP Woman Dies in Ambulance

Neelam was allegedly denied admission at over half-a-dozen government and private hospitals.

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: PTI)

An eight-month pregnant woman died in an ambulance in Greater Noida after a 13-hour search for hospital beds failed, as eight private and government facilities allegedly denied her admission, PTI reported.

Neelam, 30, a resident of Khoda colony located at the Noida-Ghaziabad border, was reportedly undergoing treatment at Shivalik Hospital for pregnancy-related complications.

‘All Refused to Admit Her’

The report quoted her husband Vijender Singh as saying, “We first went to the ESI hospital. Thereafter, we went to a hospital in Sector 30; from there we went to the Sharda Hospital and then to the Government Institute of Medical Sciences in Greater Noida. But, all refused to admit her.”

Most of the hospitals said they did not have beds to spare, he claimed.

The report also says that the family tried to get Neelam admitted into private facilities like Jaypee, Fortis Hospital in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Max in Vaishali and Ghaziabad, where they were turned away for lack of beds.

Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Suhas LY has ordered a probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, The National Human Rights Commission on Monday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over reports of medical apathy towards two women in Noida, that resulted in the death of Neelam and the birth of a stillborn baby to another.

Talking about the woman denied a bed in Greater Noida, the NHRC stated, “The victim aged 30 years was taken to at least 8 hospitals by her husband including the government run hospitals before she died in the ambulance, just outside a health facility in Greater Noida on 05.06.2020.”

‘Died Waiting’

The patient was brought to Fortis Hospital in ‘a critical condition’ in the morning.

Due to unavailability of room in the ICU isolation ward, the hospital said that she was provided oxygen & nebulisation in the waiting area. The husband of the patient was then counselled by doctors to transfer her to another hospital in an Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) ambulance without any delay.

The husband, however, ‘refused resuscitation and ventilation support,’ said the hospital, reported The Indian Express.

Then, they went to Sharda Hospital by hiring a private ambulance for approximately Rs 5,000 and waited for 10 hours and didn’t get a response. They didn’t get an answer at Max Hospital too.

According to the report, they then returned to Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), where the woman was declared brought dead. The hospital said the incident was unfortunate and that the hospital was ‘overburdened with patients.’

While every medical facility had there own reasons, the family is distraught and the husband is lost for words.

“There is no bringing back the dead and our only appeal is for justice…My sister died waiting”.

Kumar, Neelam’s Brother to <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/noida-pregnant-woman-dies-family-says-turned-away-by-8-hospitals-in-12-hours-6446459/">The Indian Express</a>