Woman delivers stillborn after endless wait at Vanivilas Hospital

A 28-year-old woman from Shampura in KG Halli delivered a stillborn child on Sunday night at Vanivilas Hospital, where she was made to wait for long hours in the corridor.

Independent sources said that pregnant mothers standing in the corridors and staff being apathetic has become quite common at the hospital. Vanivilas has reached a saturation point dealing with Covid-19 cases, with an increasing number of maternity cases further thinning its resources.

Most expectant mothers are made to wait for long hours in the corridors before delivery, which is said to have exacerbated the young woman’s condition.

Hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Geetha Shivamurthy insisted that the facility did not have a shortage of beds. She added that the situation was somewhat fraught since it deals with a large number of patients.

In the case of the child’s death on Sunday, she said the couple delayed going to a maternity hospital, resulting in complications with the foetus.

Ahmed B (name changed) said after his wife’s water broke on Saturday morning that they had gone to a government hospital in KG Halli. “The government did not have the means to deal with a pregnancy. After this, we went to a private hospital in Shivajinagar where my wife used to go for prenatal care. This hospital suggested that we go to Vanivilas,” he said.

Ahmed (30) said he and his wife arrived at Vanivilas after 4 pm, but were kept waiting in the corridors and made to sit on chairs all night. “On Sunday morning, my wife was given a betamethasone injection,” he said. “If they had given it on Saturday night, it would have made a difference,” he said.

Dr Geetha said betamethasone, primarily used to speed up lung development in a preterm foetus, takes about 24 hours to kick-in. “In this case, the situation was complicated by the fact that the mother’s hind waters had emptied. The uterus was dry. If the parents had come to the hospital when the water broke, the baby could have been saved,” she said.

Volunteers of NGO Mercy Angels who were called to the hospital around 11 pm on Sunday said the hospital staff had handed over the body of the child to the family at 10.30 pm and asked them to take responsibility for the disposal of the body.

“At 10.30 pm, where was the family supposed to take the body?” asked Ibrahim Akram, a volunteer. The NGO added that it saw many pregnant mothers confined to hallways and corridors.

Vanivilas, for its part, said it did not have freezer facilities.