Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, May 28: Dakshina Kannada district was in news some time ago after a corona-infected casualty’s body was not allowed to be cremated. Now, in a heart-rending incident, a pregnant woman in quarantine reportedly did not get timely treatment. It is said that on account of this lapse, the baby died in her womb.

The woman in question had settled down in Dubai with her husband. She wanted to come to the city for delivery, and after she applied for travelling to Mangaluru, she got an opportunity to travel by the first flight. She arrived at the airport on May 12 and thereafter she was taken to her room for hotel quarantine. The test conducted next day gave negative report.

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Aziz Bastikar, maternal uncle of the pregnant lady, said that the district administration had assured that services of doctors, nurses, and assistants along with other facilities were readily available at the quarantine. "However, for the doctor to come, we had to call thrice every time and bring pressure. Even when the doctors came, they used to forget the BP kit. Perhaps this was a ploy to avoid physical contact with the patient," he felt.

Pregnant ladies who test negative can be subjected to home quarantine, the government had said. On this basis, a letter from the district administration was procured and arrangement to shift her to a flat near Shivbagh area was made. But the residents of the said apartment complex, where many retired and current senior police officers reside, reportedly provided a glimpse of their inhuman nature by decently refusing her request to move in there.

Even before the woman reached the city, arrangements had been made to provide treatment to her through a private hospital here in the city. A doctor had concurred to treat her if the first test report is negative. Bastikar said that even though the report was negative, the doctor concerned escaped later by saying that he can treat the lady only after 14 days.

"As soon as the second test report came as negative, we went to a private clinic in the city for treatment. The doctors observed that the situation is grave and to save the life of the mother, forced delivery would have to be performed. The child had by then died in the womb itself," he lamented.

Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh, said that immediately after the first report came as negative, the lady was sent home. She said that if the woman feels that she has faced injustice, she can file a complaint. She promised to inquire into why she was not allowed into the flat and who the doctors were and hospitals who refused to treat her.