J&K govt orders probe after woman delivers baby on road

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Saturday ordered a probe after a woman gave birth to a baby on a road, as reportedly doctors at a local maternity hospital here didn’t allow her to stay in the hospital overnight.

Divisional commissioner Kashmir Baseer Khan said that an order has been issued to Principal/Dean Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar, requiring him to look into the factual position with respect to the denial of entry of the pregnant woman into the hospital leading her delivering on the road and subsequently death of her baby girl.

“This incident needs a thorough inquiry to find out the factual position, so that appropriate action is taken against the concerned if found liable for such negligence/ act,” read the order issued by the divisional commissioner.

The doctors at Lal Ded hospital, the largest maternity facility in Srinagar, reportedly refused to admit the woman on Thursday who had reached the facility from far-flung area of Moori, Kalaroose in frontier district of Kupwara.

The probe was ordered after a huge storm on social media with people questioning the role of doctors at the hospital. Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were among thousands of netizens who expressed pain and anguish over the incident.

Omar said he hoped the administration led by Governor Satya Pal Malik would take immediate take action in the tragic case. “I hope the state functionaries working under the command of @jandkgovernor take immediate action in this tragic case,” he twitted.

Mehbooba, while calling the incident as heart-wrenching, expressed her pain for turning away the pregnant woman from the lone maternitycare hospital in capital city, saying “she cannot even begin to fathom the pain and trauma the parents must feel.”

“Heart-wrenching that a pregnant woman was turned away from a hospital which ironically is named after the great Kashmiri mystic saint Lal Ded. She later gave birth to a stillborn in frigid temperatures. Cannot even begin to fathom the pain and trauma the parents must feel,” she tweeted.