NEEMUCH: A 30-year-old woman gave birth to a baby in an auto rickshaw after she was denied admission at the Neemuch district hospital in Madhya Pradesh for want of an anaesthetist.
While the mother and the infant were subsequently admitted to the hospital and doing fine, the district collector has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Dinesh Silavat, who hails from Gangrar area of Chittorgarh district, Rajasthan, and ekes out a living by selling blankets, said he has been living at Malkheda village of Neemuch for some days.
His wife Rajni started having labour pains around 2. 30 pm on Wednesday and he rushed her to the district hospital here in a rickshaw, he told reporters.
But the hospital staff asked him take his wife to Udaipur, Rajasthan, he claimed.
"Despite my repeated requests, they did not budge, and women staffers told us to leave the hospital. As we came out of the hospital around 4 pm, my wife gave birth in the auto rickshaw," Silavat added.
"Some good-hearted people arranged sheets to provide privacy to my wife when she delivered the baby," he said.
When the hospital staff learnt about the delivery, they let the woman and her new-born in the hospital, Silavat said.
Maternity department head Dr Lad Dhakad said the anaesthetist was on leave, and as a result, caesarean deliveries could not take place there.
The hospital did not have enough doctors even for regular duty, he added.
"My duty was till 2 o'clock. After that the woman was brought to the hospital. When the staff informed me, I went and saw her. Her blood pressure was shooting up. The family members were told that she was needed to be taken to a big hospital, but they stayed back. We do not admit such serious patients to avoid risk," he said.
Neemuch collector Dinesh Jain said he had ordered an inquiry, and action will be taken if anyone was found guilty.