No ambulance, Marathi actress Pooja Zunjar and newborn baby die after delivery

A 25-year-old Marathi actress, Pooja Zunjar, and her newborn baby died within hours of birth in Maharashtra's Hingoli district on Sunday due to unavailability of ambulance, police said.

Relatives of the deceased actress claimed she would have been alive had they managed to get an ambulance in time.

The incident took place on Sunday morning in Hingoli district, around 590 kms from Mumbai, in the Marathwada region.

The police official said Pooja was rushed to a primary health centre in Goregaon, her native place in the district, around 2 am on Sunday after she went into labour. The newborn died within few minutes of delivery, officials said.

"The doctors at the primary health centre then advised Pooja's family members to shift her to the Hingoli Civil Hospital, which is around 40 km from Goregaon," officials added.

"They somehow managed to get a private ambulance to rush Pooja to the civil hospital in Hingoli, but she died during the journey," the official said.

Police have registered a medico-legal case and are recording statements of Pooja's relatives, he added.

Talking about the case, Dr Shivaji Pawar, District Health Officer, Hingoli, said, "Patient (Pooja) was admitted to the Goregaon Primary Health Centre (PHC) on October 11. She started getting premature labour pain in 33rd week of pregnancy. There were some complications in her pregnancy as she was under weight and had low HB count, and therefore she was referred to Civil Hospital in Hingoli."

The Doctor added that Pooja was admitted to Hingoli Civil Hospital on October 11. She took voluntary discharge from the hospital on October 13 against medical advice. Dr Pawar said, "On October 19, in the evening, Pooja was once again admitted to Goregaon PHC. After her medical examination and tests, Dr Shakeel Pathan, Medical Officer, advised her to move to Hingoli Civil Hospital as it was a premature delivery case."

Dr Shivaji Pawar informed that at around 10:30am, Dr Shakeel Pathan advised Pooja's family to get accommodated in the only ambulance which was carrying another patient to Hingoli Civil Hospital, but Pooja's family was reluctant to go. He added, "On October 20, at around 2:22am, Pooja gave birth to a stillborn baby and after hearing about it she went in a shock. She had to be immediately rushed to Hingoli but the only ambulance at Goregaon PHC had not returned from Hingoli which is 30km away."

While Pooja's family their best to arrange for an ambulance, they couldn't manage one. They also called BVG's 108 ambulance, but they didn't respond. Mr Hanmant Gaikwad, Founding Director of BVG, said that, "It is a very sad incident that should not have happened. BVG manages and runs 937 ambulances on the behave of the state government. Every ambulance managed by BVG is GPS tracked and all records are thoroughly kept. So the records can be examined."

Pooja had played lead roles in two Marathi movies. She had taken a break from work due to pregnancy.

- With inputs from Pankaj Khelkar and Press Trust of India.

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