Doctors are considered next to god in India and people strongly believe in that. But, it appears likely that some people have already lost faith in doctors. A 30-year-old pregnant woman gave birth to a baby girl in the middle of a street in a Karnataka district after the doctor and nurse at the hospital refused to help her out during an emergency situation when she approached them.
The woman, by the name of Gangamalamma, was immediately taken to PHC by her 35-year-old husband Chowdappa after she experienced contractions in her body. When reached the hospital, the doctors, were least bothered about the patient as they came up with a lame excuse by saying it as a ‘lunchtime’. This boring reason was just enough to turn away a woman, at a time that required immediate medical attention.
As per the TOI, Gangamalamma delivered the baby girl on the busy street with a group of women shielding her with a swiftly stitched screen with sarees in Chitrahalli village of Holalkere taluk which is about 240 km from Bengaluru.
“We reached the centre around 11 am, but doctors kept us waiting till noon. Later, a duty doctor and a nurse asked us to go home saying it’s lunchtime!” Chowdappa told TOI.
It’s indeed heartbreaking and shameful to hear such incidents of ‘unsympathetic’ by the doctors. It could have been a different story altogether had it not been for some women who came forward to help the woman.
However, after the incident, the villagers have been protesting outside the PHC and demanding ‘severe action’ to be taken against the doctor and the nurse for their cruel behaviour. The District health officer, identified as Dr Niraj Patil initiated a probe into the incident.
