FIT IN CONSULTANTS

ALMORA: A pregnant woman in Almora was told by doctors of a local government hospital that her baby had died in the womb and needed to be removed by surgery. But, a few hours later, in the ambulance on the way to another health facility, the 23-year-old woman went into labour and with the help of the medics present, gave birth to a healthy boy.

Terming it a “case of negligence” by Chaukhutia Hospital staff, the woman’s family members claimed that when she was told to go to Ranikhet for the surgery, her condition began to deteriorate. The woman belongs to a village in Gairsain block of Chamoli district.

Leela Devi, an anganwadi worker, said that doctors, after a brief examination, told the family on Sunday that the child’s heartbeat had stopped. Leela added: “There was no facility of delivering a ‘stillborn’, so the woman was referred elsewhere. Disappointed, her family took her in the ambulance, when after travelling for about 2 km, the woman gave birth to a healthy baby to the sheer joy of everyone inside the emergency vehicle. It was nothing short of a miracle.” A family member said: “We were very surprised to find the child alive. Both the mother and son are doing well, as of now.”

When asked about the episode, Dr Amit Ratan, in-charge of community health centre at Chaukhutia, said, “On reaching the hospital, the legs of the child had partly come out of the mother’s womb. They were completely blue. In that moment, a doctor on duty found that the child did not have a heartbeat.” The doctor added, “The newborn boy wasn’t declared dead in the hospital, we only expressed such a possibility.”