A 22-year-old woman in Kanchipuram gave birth to a still-born baby after allegedly being denied medical treatment by a Primary Health Centre (PHC) on Thursday. Officials at the Health Department, however, have denied negligence on the part of the PHC.
Subhasini’s family says she was rushed to the PHC in Vallipuram on Wednesday night after she had labour pains. While she was at the centre for two hours, Subhasini was sent home after being given medicines by the nurses, her family alleges.
“She was having labour pain and the nurses gave her medicines and sent us back home. We reached back home around1:30am and in an hour, she had bleeding,” her uncle Ramesh alleged.
But he alleges that by 5:30am on Thursday, Subhasini had gone into labour, with “the baby half out”. “We went running to the PHC and pleaded with the nurses to help us. They pushed us out of the centre and shut the door. They told us that this is not our work, you do whatever you want to do. They should be providing us 24x7 service and this is what they did,” said Ramesh.
He goes on to allege that the nurses came to the house at around 6am but the baby had died.
“Then we took her to Chengalpet Government Hospital which is about 20-km from Subhasini’s house. We do not have our own vehicle otherwise we would have taken her earlier. Because of the nurses’ delay, the child died,” claimed Ramesh.
Speaking to The News Minute, an official from the health department said, “I went to Vallipuram yesterday and inquired about this issue. Subhasini developed a pre-mature labour on Wednesday night, she was just eight-months pregnant. The staff nurses at the PHC had asked them to go to the Chengalpet Government Hospital but instead they went home. By 6am in the morning, a still baby was born and the nurses referred them to the Government Hospital.” He, however, added that the condition of the mother is stable.
Subhasini and Prakash, a carpenter had gotten married last year. “She has been admitted in the ICU at the government hospital. She was getting her check-ups done at the PHC for the last eight months and the nurses had been saying she and her baby are doing well,” said Ramesh.
He also alleged that as doctors were not going to the PHC, many patients had stopped coming for treatment. However, the health official denied the allegations saying, “It is an additional PHC and a doctor is always available there between 9am to 5pm.”