In absence of proper medical care, Greater Noida couple loses first child soon after birth

GREATER NOIDA: A couple from Greater Noida lost their newborn child on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in the absence of proper medical care. The first child of Raj Kumar (27) and Rekha (25) was born in a private hospital located in Swarn Nagari, Greater Noida around 11pm on Monday. The duo stays on rent in sector 36 in Greater Noida and had shifted to the city in search of employment from Mahoba over a decade back.
As the child was not crying or making any sound, the doctor and paramedics handling the delivery asked Raj Kumar and his elder brother Prem to rush the male infant to a specialty hospital.The duo reached another private hospital in Greater Noida around midnight. “But it was asking for too much money. Both of us did not receive payment for the month and a half. We decided to take him to the government hospital instead,” said Prem who stays along with his family in the same house in a different portion in sector 36.
The family struggled to get an ambulance and called up police control room for help. The PCR van reached the brother duo and helped them find an ambulance late in the night. They rushed towards community health centre in Dadri.
Though CHCs in Uttar Pradesh have the capability of helping with maternal care including complicated deliveries, no doctor was present on-duty at the CHC at 1am. “The staff at the CHC was interested in turning us away. They said they will not be able to help and directed us to the super speciality government paediatric hospital in sector 30, Noida. We rushed to Noida thereafter,” said Prem.
Again the family faced the same ordeal and at first they had to struggle to find the right gate. And once they got inside around 4am, the brother duo struggled to find the on-duty doctor. A paramedic checked the boy after about 25 minutes. “We kept wailing the whole time. We felt helpless. We pleaded with the staff members to call an expert doctor. After a while we were handed over a death certificate,” added Prem.
The anguished brother duo buried the child on Tuesday morning and also shared their experience over social media. “We want to highlight what people on the ground have been facing. Non-Covid population also needs equal attention of healthcare system,” summed up Prem. Weight of the child was 3.5-kg at the time of the birth and the fetal ultrasound conducted on Saturday showed nothing unusual.
Aware about the incident, district magistrate Suhas LY said, “Our team would get in touch with deceased child’s father. Explanation would be sought from the concerned doctors at Dadri and sector 30 facility. We would also check whether the private hospital cooperated with the parents or not in order to find out why boy’s father faced difficulty in getting an ambulance initially.”