VIRUDHUNAGAR: Virudhunagar Medical College is in the eye of a storm after the doctors allegedly failed to conduct Covid-19 test on a mentally-challenged pregnant woman, brought to the hospital with the help of a Village Health Nurse.
Speaking to Express, Shanti, the nurse working at a PHC in Sattur municipality said that the 35-year-old woman approached her 10 days ago while she was leaving the PHC. Since the woman had ran away from the spot immediately, she had asked a person in the locality to alert her if she comes back.
“In the first glance itself, I made it out that she is close to her due date. With the help of a person I found her again on Friday evening,” Shanti said.Shanti added that she along with the help of a few policemen made the woman stay at a place and further sought the help of Upathur Block Medical Officer in arranging an ambulance to take her to Virudhunagar Hospital. “The woman was taken in the ambulance with the help of the policemen and an elderly destitute man,” she said, adding that when asked,the woman said her name is Pagadaikani.
Sources said that they had spotted the woman wandering in and around Sattur and Kovilpatti region. BMO said that the woman, admitted to the hospital as an emergency case on Friday night, delivered a baby girl on Saturday morning and the baby was taken under the protection of District Child Protection Unit on Tuesday afternoon.
Collector R Kannan said that the woman would be given counselling and would be taken to a government facility soon. The health officials cited emergency, her being asymptomatic and her not belonging to any containment zone and ‘protocol’ of testing antenatal mothers before five days of delivery as reasons for not taking swab samples. “This puts everyone including the mother-child, the doctors, nurses and others who came in contact with her in danger,” they said.
A doctor, said, “As both the mother and the child are to be taken to homes, it is highly recommended to test them for COVID-19. Though she has not shown any symptoms, none are sure about the places she has wandered. So it is safer to test them before deciding on further course of action.”