A four-and-a-half-month pregnant woman delivering her baby on the roadside near the Raj Bhavan in Lucknow has drawn flack from opposition leaders.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds the health portfolio, confirmed the incident.
“I have taken cognizance of the incident and I am going to the spot. What I have been told by the principal secretary is that this family was going in a rickshaw and the incident took place near gate number 13 of the Raj Bhavan,” the minister said.
The baby was taken to Veerangana Jhalkari Bai Women and Child Hospital where it was declared dead by doctors. The last rites were performed at Baikunth Dhaam in Lucknow.
“Earlier in the day, she had gone to the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital in Lucknow after experiencing pain and was administered an injection. She went home but did not get any relief,” a doctor said.
Brajesh Pathak said the woman decided to take a rickshaw and not an ambulance to the hospital, but when some passersby outside the Raj Bhavan called an ambulance, it arrived in 25 minutes.
Samajwadi Party leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav, however, alleged that the incident occurred due to the “non-availability” of an ambulance.
“The state’s health system is on ventilator support despite lakhs of advertisements and claims. A pregnant woman going to the hospital by rickshaw was forced to deliver on the roadside near Raj Bhavan due to the non-availability of an ambulance. It is shameful for the entire system and it is the reality of the state’s health system,” he said in a post in Hindi on X (formerly twitter).
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