Priyanka, Akhilesh slam UP govt as pregnant woman dies in ambulance

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday (June 7) hit out at the UP government over the death of a pregnant woman in an ambulance in Noida, saying the government should take the incident as a “warning” and make full preparations so that no life is lost.

An eight-month pregnant woman died in an ambulance in Noida after running between hospitals for 13 hours and failing to find her a bed as over half-a-dozen facilities denied her treatment, her family claimed on Saturday (June 6).

Neelam, 30, and her husband Vijender Singh, 30, knocked the doors of eight hospitals, including government ones, before she died in the ambulance outside a facility in Greater Noida on Friday, the family told PTI.

Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said, “During corona pandemic, the government has to take the non-COVID and other health facilities very seriously. In this context, if there is any lapse (chook), then there will be serious consequences. The death of a pregnant woman in Noida is a warning.”

In another tweet, she said, “Similar news is coming from different parts of UP. The Government must make full preparations so that no life is lost.”

..यूपी में कई जगहों से इस तरह की खबरें आई हैं। सरकार को इसके लिए पूरी तैयारी करनी चाहिए ताकि किसी की जान न जाए।2/2

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) June 7, 2020

Taking note of the death and the claim, the Gautam Buddh Nagar district administration ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Lashing out at the Yogi Adityanath-led government, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday (June 7) as to how many beds have been arranged for the “future generation”.

उप्र में प्रसव के लिए अस्पताल खोजते-खोजते एक गर्भवती महिला की मृत्यु अति दुखद है. सरकार यह बताए कि अगर वो कोरोना के लिए 1 लाख बेड के इंतज़ाम का दावा करती है तो आनेवाली पीढ़ियों के लिए कुछ बेड आरक्षित क्यों नहीं रखे. भाजपा सरकार ये भी बताए कि उसने अब तक कितने अस्पताल बनाए हैं. pic.twitter.com/ENNGL6Lyx6

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) June 7, 2020

“The death of a pregnant woman while searching a hospital is extremely sad. The (UP) government should tell that if it has arranged 1 lakh beds for corona (patients), then why it has not reserved some beds for the future generation. The BJP government should also tell that till now, how many hospitals have been made,” Yadav tweeted on Sunday.

A resident of Khoda colony on the Noida-Ghaziabad border, Neelam was eight months pregnant and undergoing treatment at Shivalik Hospital in Noida, a private facility, for pregnancy-related complications, her husband said.

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On Friday, the hospital refused to admit her and then they were forced to run from one facility to another, he added.

“We first went to the ESI hospital. Thereafter, we went to a hospital in Sector 30 (the Child PGI), from there we went to the Sharda Hospital and then to the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida. But all refused to admit her,” the man is seen alleging in a video circulating on social media.

He said the family also tried to get admission in the private facility Jaypee, Fortis Hospital in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Max in Vaishali, Ghaziabad, but were allegedly told that no beds were available.

“Kul mila ke humari ambulance mein hi death ho gayi (ultimately, she died in the ambulance). Finally, we got to the GIMS where she was put on a ventilator but it was too late,” he said.

Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Suhas L.Y. ordered a probe into the episode.

“Additional DM Munindra Nath Upadhyay and Chief Medical Officer Deepak Ohri will probe the matter. The DM has instructed them to immediately carry out a probe and take action,” an official statement said.

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This is at least the second instance within a fortnight when a life has been lost in Gautam Buddh Nagar due to unavailability of timely medical treatment.

On the night of May 25, a newborn child had died due to lack of medical support as his father kept running from one hospital to another between Greater Noida and Noida.

The district administration had carried out a probe in that matter too and pinned the fault on two private hospitals for alleged negligence.

(With inputs from agencies)