NAINITAL: A delayed ambulance, a missing horn, and the
absence
of a
specialist gynaecologist
at the community health centre resulted in the death of an unborn baby in the womb of the Dhuna village pradhan in Garampani area in Nainital on Monday evening, her family claimed on Tuesday.
Dhuni village head Jaya Arya faced a critical situation during her eighth month of pregnancy.
Bleeding and in need of medical attention, the family took her to Garampani CHC, which serves three blocks - Tadikhet, Ramgarh, and Betalghat. The CHC lacks a gynaecologist & despite having an ultrasound machine, there's no radiologist to operate it.
A general physician and a male nurse attended to Jaya at the CHC and referred her to a medical centre in Haldwani, 30km away. They called in an ambulance, but it arrived after more than an hour. Arya alleged that when they sought help from Nainital's chief medical officer Dr Bhagirathi Joshi, they were informed about a vacancy of 115 gynaecologists in Uttarakhand.
Their journey to Haldwani was further delayed because of the ambulance's dysfunctional horn - the roads were also crowded with Christmas revellers. Once they reached Halwani, the baby was born dead.
Recounted the harrowing incident to TOI, N K Arya, the husband of the village head, emphasised that it wasn't the due date for the baby, but complications arose during the eighth month of pregnancy. He said, "We rushed to CHC only to find no gynaecologist or lady nurses. The general physician there advised an immediate transfer to a higher centre due to the critical condition, but the delays compounded the crisis."
"There is an acute scarcity of gynaecologists & radiologists at health centres across Uttarakhand, not only in CHCs but also in district hospitals. The state is grappling with shortage of specialist," Joshi told TOI.
English (US) ·