M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Dec 8: A 25-year-old woman delivered a dead boy on a platform of the Daltonganj railway station on Wednesday night after she was denied any medical assistance. Saraswati Devi had labour pain on platform number one around 10:35 PM.
Speaking to lagatar24.com, the station superintendent Anil Kumar Tiwary said, “I gave phone calls to the Palamu civil surgeon on his official number but his phone was switched off.” He added that he gave calls to the DPM but it was also in vain. Neither the civil surgeon nor the DPM was officially available.
“I gave calls on 108 for an ambulance but there was no response from their end,” he added.
The official added that it was the Palamu SP Chandan Kumar Sinha who somehow got the information about the woman in distress and rushed in his official Rudranand Saras who arranged the transportation to Medinirai medical college hospital.
Tiwary added that he called the ex-civil surgeon of Palamu Dr Anil Kumar. “I forgot that Dr Anil Kumar is now the civil surgeon in Garhwa and he arranged one ambulance which rushed to the Garhwa railway station. I then clarified that I need an ambulance at the Daltonganj railway station to which Dr Anil Kumar said that he thought I needed one at the Garhwa railway station,” Tiwary explained.
The medical team in the hospital declared the newly born infant ‘brought dead’. They added that the woman had a ‘breech presentation’ where the buttocks or feet or both of the infant are in place to come out first during the delivery.
Dr Archana Tiwary, who examined the woman said that the paediatrician in the note has described the male baby as a pre-term baby. “The male infant was brought dead. The mother is stable and responding to the treatment. We are taking all care of her,” she said.
Sources said that this is not the first instance when the issue of delivery on the railway platform had occurred. It used to be handled promptly in the past but this delivery was a piece of neglect and apathy, reminded many.
At the peak of Covid-19 in 2020, there was an identical case when a migrant worker developed acute labour pain on the Shramik Express train. The then civil surgeon of Palamu Dr John F Kennedy and then SDPO Sandeep Kumar Gupta helped the migrant worker to deliver the baby in the hospital.
Similarly, in 2022, there was a similar case when a woman delivered a baby on the platform in Daltonganj and Dr Kennedy was of great help. A senior nurse Chanchala had done a wonderful job back then, reminded many doctors and locals.
