In a shocking incident, a pregnant woman was denied admission in a community health centre when she failed to produce an Aadhaar card. She then delivered the child at the gates.
Startled by the incident for fear of facing action, senior doctors intervened in the matter and referred the woman and the child to the district hospital for proper treatment. Both the child and the mother are out of danger. The incident has put a big question mark on the state of medical health services in Uttar Pradesh.
Chanda, a garbage collector, was taken to the CHC Shahganj by her husband Ajay Kumar when she got into labour/ “I was asked by the CHC staff to submit an Aadhaar card or a ration card for admission. We were shown the doors when I said I had neither of the documents,” said Ajay Kumar.
As Chanda was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, she could not bear the pain and delivered the child on at gate. This led to chaos at the CHC and before medical negligence was reported to higher-ups, the authorities called the ambulance and shifted the woman and child to the district hospital for better treatment.
A native of Rae Bareli, her husband had migrated to Jaunpur in search of a job but they ended up as garbage collectors and started living a makeshift hut near Shahganj Railway Station.
Contrary to CHC staff, health department officials deny that there is any rule to link Aadhaar card with medical services. “Only address and identity verification documents are asked to be submitted at the time of the admission to verify personal credentials for record purposes. Critical care patients are first given admission and treatment even without any documents on humane ground,” clarified a senior Health department official.
Taking serious note of the incident, the medical education Minister Ashutosh Tandon has sought details of the incident. “No ailing person can be denied admission and treatment in any hospital for want of papers. Details have been sought and anyone found guilty will be punished,” assured the minister.
