A woman admitted in Behala’s Vidyasagar State General Hospital gave birth unattended on the ward floor. Her relatives, who later took her to a private hospital, have filed a complaint with the hospital authorities and plan to approach the police as well.

A resident of IIM-C’s Joka campus, 23-year-old Chanda Devi was admitted in the maternity ward on November 22.

“A doctor visited her initially, but thereafter, no medical staff appeared. She had gone into labour and in the evening, when she could not stand the pain any more, she called me on phone,” said Dharmendar K Paswan, her husband. A lawyer-clerk at Alipore Criminal Court, Paswan said his mother-in-law visited the ward to find out what was wrong.

“I saw my daughter lying on the floor in a pool of blood, unattended. The baby was already crowning,” said Bimala Devi. “I helped Chanda deliver, shouting for help all the time, which came way later.”

“When I reached the place, the staff manning the ward accused me of giving my wife a cellphone against the rules. Then they took me upstairs to my wife. She was still lying on the floor with the child, bleeding heavily,” said Paswan.

The relatives said it was over two hours after she gave birth that a doctor finally attended to her. The day after, Chanda was taken to a private hospital. On Monday, her family handed a written complaint to the hospital superintendent and threatened to take legal measures unless they took action. “A team of senior doctors and officials will look into the matter. If anyone is found guilty, action will be taken,” said Dr A K Mondol, the superintendent.

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