JAGATSINGHPUR: A mother and her infant were allegedly confined to a ward in a private fertility clinic at Bhubaneswar for six months as her family could not clear her treatment and delivery bills.
Sabita Pradhan’s ordeal ended on Friday when her husband managed to get her and the baby discharged from the clinic with the help of some activists.
Ullash Pradhan, an autorickshaw driver of Chatra village under Jagatsinghpur municipality limits, had married one Sabita five years back. As the couple was issueless, Ullash approached doctor of a private fertility clinic in Bhubaneswar for In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)of Sabita.
The doctor informed him that the entire procedure and delivery would cost him Rs 7.30 lakh. Ullash, who was desperate for a child, agreed to pay the amount.
The process began last year and Sabita conceived through IVF technique at the clinic. In the second trimester, the doctor informed the couple that Sabita was carrying twins.
In the meantime, Ullash sold his 48 decimals of land and paid the clinic Rs 6 lakh. In her sixth month of pregnancy, Ullash took Sabita to the clinic where another ultrasound was conducted and revealed that she was actually carrying triplets.
Although Sabita wanted to abort one child, the doctor refused as medical termination is not allowed after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The couple decided to carry the triplets to full term and in eighth month of her pregnancy in February this year, Sabita had to be admitted to the hospital as she developed some complications.
The doctors told her that she would require a C-section. But in March, she delivered the three children - 2 boys and a girl - through normal birth. The two boys though died within four days of birth.
During the time of discharge, the hospital handed over the bill of remaining Rs 1.3 lakh to the couple. However, with the Covid pandemic beginning to unfold and lockdown imposed, Ullash’s earnings were severely hit and he had also exhausted his meagre savings.
“They did not let us leave the clinic without clearing the dues. With no other way out, I had to stay back in the ward with my baby girl till my husband arranged the money”, said Sabita.
Ullash left for Chatra in April leaving his wife and daughter behind and would visit them once in a week to inquire about their wellbeing and provide them money to buy food and the child’s vaccinations.
From April to August, although Ullash ran from pillar to post to arrange for the remaining funds, he could not due to the pandemic. His appeals to the clinic authorities and the doctors, too, fell on deaf ears.
Recently, he met activist Anjana Sahoo who runs an NGO Tejaswini Mahila Surakhya at Chatra and informed her about his plight. Anjana along with her colleague Siba Prasad Swain met the clinic authorities and the doctors and requested them to release Sabita and the infant.
The hospital authorities asked Ullash to pay at least Rs 60,000 of the remaining amount but the latter expressed helplessness. However, when they were told by the activists that it is illegal to detain the woman and her infant for so long, the clinic authorities agreed to discharge them.