Andhra Pradesh Woman Denied Maternal Healthcare, Delivers Baby On Road

Hospitals have been insensitive towards pregnant women, which has cost them their life too. The hospitals' negligence has forced women to deliver babies outside the premises. The denial from hospitals has been ripping women of their rights to maternal healthcare. In another incident in Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati, a woman delivered a baby on road near the hospital. 

Think of all the inconvenience she might have gone through. Forget convenience, this could have been fatal. The video of childbirth on road has been doing rounds on the Internet. The video shows a group of women holding a bedsheet to cover the pregnant woman as a man helps her deliver the baby. 

Andhra Woman Delivers Baby On Road

The entire episode is insensitive because a woman was denied healthcare while she was at the hospital. Thus, the new mother was forced to deliver the baby in front of the 100-bed Tirupati Maternity Hospital, which is said to be the primary healthcare center (PHC). The woman was reportedly denied access by the hospital staff as no one was accompanying her. If a government hospital is denying basic reproductive rights over petty reasons think about the population which stays in the remotest part of India. Think of people who do not even get to access healthcare because of poor infrastructure.

Later, the woman started experiencing labour pain as she came out of the hospital, and strangers came to her rescue. The man who helped with childbirth reportedly works at a primary health center. Thereafter, the woman and baby were later taken in by the hospital, as per the officials.

Tirupati district health in charge Srihari said they have been investigating the incident and action will be taken against those found guilty.

This is not the first time that women are denied maternal healthcare. For several reasons women are asked to find other hospitals or sent back. While doing so several women have lost their lives leaving behind their newborns. In some cases, both mother and child die during the delivery. The hospitals are to be totally blamed for it. Earlier, at the civil hospital in Punjab’s Pathankot, a woman was allegedly forced to deliver her baby on the floor of the hospital after she was denied admission to the labour room.

Maternal healthcare has failed several times to reach women in an utmost emergency jeopardising the two lives. In an incident in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, a pregnant woman was forced to travel on a tractor due to a scarcity of ambulance services in the district hospital. Think what could have happened to her. These incidents have been lately increasing raising questions about why women are not able to access healthcare and deliver in unfavorable conditions. 

Doctors' negligence has also impacted maternal healthcare heavily. In a recent incident, the 28-year-old pregnant woman receiving care at a hospital in Kalyan between March and April 2021, reportedly died due to a doctor’s wrong diagnosis.

The incidence of women being unable to receive proper treatment while delivering the child has increased. The respective hospital authorities should make strict rules concerning maternal healthcare. Strict action must be taken, the government should ensure no matter what, pregnant women coming to the hospital must get the derived treatment. 

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