Stern action needed: Letter to BS on woman delivers baby outside hospital

It has been reported in a section of the press that a labourer’s pregnant wife was denied admission for want of Aadhaar forcing the woman to give birth to a baby girl at the gate of a community health centre in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh. It is tragic if the story is true. The hospital says the identification proof was demanded to give the cash incentive of Rs 1,400 to the woman. Even if it is believed that the hospital authorities insisted on Aadhaar with the good intention of giving the incentive, the woman should have been admitted and her case should have been attended to first. The identification proof could have been sought after the woman delivered her baby. In case she failed to produce the proof, the incentive could have been denied. The Uttar Pradesh government must be appreciated for promoting institutional deliveries with an incentive of Rs 1,400 in the case of rural women and Rs 1,000 in the case of urban women under the Janani Suraksha Yojana. The adamant attitude of the hospital authorities brings disrepute to the government. Stern action should be taken against the staff who failed to discharge their duties in time.

H N Ramakrishna   Bengaluru

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