Assaulted by neighbour, deaf-mute Palghar woman, aged 20, loses newborn while running from one hospital to another and later dies of vaginal bleeding in Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Family members of the deceased at their home in Jawhar taluka. Pic/Hanif Patel
The poor state of health infrastructure in tribal-dominated Palghar district once again stands exposed as a 20-year-old pregnant woman had to run from one hospital to another, and died in a hospital in Silvassa, a city in neighbouring Dadra and Nagar Haveli, hours after delivering a dead baby in Dahanu. Her family members said they had first taken her to the Rural Hospital in Palghar but were told to go to another hospital as it did not have the facility for a caesarean delivery.
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The family of the woman, who was impregnated by a 25-year-old married neighbour in her village in Jawhar Taluka of Palghar district in August last year, had to go to four different hospitals in 30 hours, from one night to the next—three in the state and the last one in the neighbouring Union Territory.
“She was sexually abused on multiple occasions but could not narrate her ordeal as she is deaf and mute and was not expressive through sign language,” her mother told mid-day.
The deceased woman
Her parents learnt about her pregnancy only after the baby bump was visible after a few months, said a neighbour. “During sonography it was confirmed that she was pregnant and doctors suggested that they don’t opt for abortion as it could be detrimental to her health. So her parents had taken her along to the place where they work on daily wages in Palghar town,” said another neighbour.
No C-section facility
On the night of April 10, the woman started having severe pain which led the family to rush her to the nearest hospital.
The brother-in-law of the deceased told mid-day, “We reached Palghar Rural Hospital at 8 pm. The doctors told us that she needed to have a C-section and that the facility was not available there and referred us to another hospital.”
The woman’s parents and the neighbour who impregnated her (right). Pics/Hanif Patel
“We reached Cottage Hospital in Dahanu at 2 am on April 11 in a hospital ambulance. There, the doctors checked her and said that the condition of the baby was alarming as foetal heart rate was not detected. They also said that a caesarean delivery was required and while they had the facility, they referred us to another hospital saying they did not have a neonatal unit required to take care of premature babies,” said the father of the deceased.
Her grieving mother told mid-day, “After the doctor referred us to another hospital again, we went to the private hospital in Dahanu around 4.30 am. She was admitted there and just a few minutes later we were told that she delivered a dead boy.” “Though we were sad, we thanked God as my daughter was still alive. But her condition started deteriorating rapidly with heavy vaginal bleeding,” she added.
Vivek Pandit, chairman of a government-appointed committee to look into the status of schemes for tribals in the state
Had to travel outside state
“Since there is no civil hospital in Palghar and we cannot afford the high cost of private hospitals, we rushed her to a civil hospital in Silvassa, which is comparatively closer to Dahanu than any other big hospitals,” said her brother-in-law.
The woman finally reached the Civil Hospital, Silvassa in the afternoon on April 11 and was admitted there. The doctors had immediately asked her family members to arrange two bottles of blood as she was bleeding profusely.
“We somehow managed to arrange the blood amid panic, but she breathed her last around 2 am on April 12. We lost both my daughter and her baby despite running from one hospital to another in distress,” said her father, a daily wage worker.
The provisional death report states that she “died of Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH)”. Samples of her blood, intrauterine foetal death (IUFD) bones, etc have been preserved for DNA analysis.
Her brother-in-law said, “What’s the use of a hospital if there is no health infrastructure available? The big buildings at Rural Hospital of Palghar and Cottage Hospital in Dahanu are nothing but empty structures. There is no guarantee if the patient will survive but you will surely lose precious time in times of emergency. We are poor and nobody cares about our conditions.”
“I feel sorry that I could do nothing good for my daughter. She was born in a poor family and was deaf and mute. Later, she was impregnated by a neighbour. Just to keep her safe, we had taken her to a place where we work as daily wage workers. We were happy that she will have a child to look after her when we die. But the poor health facilities led to her death,” said her sobbing mother.
‘Need inquiry’
Sita Ghatal, the in-charge of a trust that provides free medical care to malnourished children and their mothers in Jawhar taluka told mid-day, “We are wondering why the patient was turned away and referred to another hospital as I have learnt that there is a facility at Palghar Rural Hospital to treat C-section patients. The authority concerned must conduct a thorough inquiry into the matter.”
Vivek Pandit, chairman of a government-appointed committee to look into the status of schemes for tribals in Maharashtra, said, “Palghar is a tribal dominated area and most of them are poor and cannot afford private hospitals. But the government health infrastructure is in a very bad shape, where doctors are seldom available, patients are not given ambulances on time. There is also no civil hospital in Palghar. So, the residents have to go from one to the other seeking treatment.”
“Here in Palghar, tribals are dying like animals. I don’t know what the government is doing to safeguard the hamlets in Palghar, which is hardly 100 km away from Mantralaya. Just think about the state of other districts then,” Pandit added.
Doctor Speak
The civil surgeon of Palghar district, Dr Sanjay Bodade, told mid-day, “It was a case of a teenage pregnancy, which is very common in tribal areas. Though her parents claim she was 20-years old, she was a teenager. It was a very complicated case which could not have been handled at the Rural Hospital or Cottage Hospital-level.” The foetus was at risk and such cases can only be managed at multi-speciality or medical college hospitals.”
“We have been counselling tribals in different hamlets not to marry off their teenage children as teenage pregnancy becomes extremely complicated to handle, especially when we are yet to come up with a civil hospital,” he said, adding that a civil hospital is proposed to come up at Nandore in Palghar taluka and the proposal is pending at the state level.
2 am
Time on April 12 when the woman died
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