COIMBATORE: Four days after delivering her second baby at home, a 32-year-old woman from Tiruppur died in a private hospital in Coimbatore around 10.30 am on Sunday. The infant girl is currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Erode and her condition is stable. No health professional or midwife was present to assist in the delivery.
According to Uthukuli police, the woman, Sasikala (32) from Punjai Thalavipalayam near Uthukuli, went into labour around 9.15 pm on June 23. Along with her husband — Kolanthasamy, a farmer in his mid-30s — Sasikala delivered the baby at her home around 5.42 am on Wednesday.
However, shortly after the delivery, she suffered from postpartum hemorrhage and fainted. She was rushed to Perundurai Government Medical College Hospital. On Thursday, Sasikala was shifted to the critical care unit at a private super speciality hospital near Neelambur in Coimbatore, where she died on Sunday morning, the police said.
Based on a complaint from Kunnathur Block Medical Officer Dr Nithya, Uthukuli police registered a case against Kolanthasamy under Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the BNS. The police said the couple was married in 2019, and the woman had her first baby through a C-section procedure in 2020.
In the months that followed, the woman suffered from back pain, besides developing respiratory issues allegedly after taking Covid-19 vaccination, making her lose faith in the allopathic medicine, said the police. Sources added that when the woman became pregnant with her second child, she allegedly skipped antenatal check-ups, going against her family members’ advice.
A police source said the investigation team has retrieved a letter in which the deceased had given her written consent to childbirth at home. The police are also suspecting that a group on social media allegedly guided them in performing the critical medical procedure at home. A senior officer said, “The couple strongly believed in alternatives to allopathic medicine.
As the woman went into labour, her parents requested that the couple visit a hospital, but the woman denied it.” When asked how the woman skipped the health department’s monitoring, BMO Nithya told TNIE that the couple avoided registering with the health department’s Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation.
“The village health nurse (VHN) post of the Health Sub-centre (HSC) at the village lies vacant, and it has been managed by the VHN from a nearby HSC. The couple concealed the pregnancy intentionally from the VHN, Integrated Child Development Services members, from the nearby Anganwadi centre, who usually carry out door-to-door check-ups,” she said.
