Mumbai: Ten days after a nine-month pregnant woman who had tested positive for coronavirus died, the husband of a 30-year-old pregnant woman found himself running from pillar to post, knocking on the doors of various public and private hospitals, wanting to get his wife admitted as she is due to deliver anytime now.
However, no hospital was ready to accept her because she had tested positive for coronavirus and they did not have a Covid-19 obstetric ward. Only after a corporator intervened did the BYL Nair Hospital agree to admit her.
Asif Khan (name changed), a resident of Grant Road, said his wife was found positive for COVID on Tuesday by a private laboratory which had tested her swab sample. She has no travel history and is asymptomatic. Doctors had given her a delivery date this week (April 17) but none of the hospitals in the city is ready to admit her, he said.
In the last two days, Asif had inquired with seven hospitals - the King Edward Memorial (KEM), Bhabha, Nanavati, St George, Kasturba, SevenHills and Saifee -- but none of the hospitals were willing to admit her, for lack of COVID-19 obstetric wards. Every hospital I have called gave me the same answer: 'We cannot admit her as we do not have an OB-GYN ward for corona patients',” he said.
The matter came to light following a tweet by a doctor, tagging the BMC, on Wednesday, “A COVID +ve pregnant lady's husband visited Seven Hills, KEM, Kasturba, Bhabha, Saifee, Nanavati and St. George’s. Since we haven't started OBGYN positive ward till now, I wish to know where do we refer her? Her due date is 17th April.”
Civic officials visited the couple’s home in Grant Road to collect samples and recommended that the couple should go to a hospital in Naigaon, 8- 10 km away from their home. Dr Mohan Joshi, in-charge, SevenHills Hospital, said they do not have OB-GYN wards, so they were unable to admit the woman. “We cannot set up everything in one day. They should look for a hospital near their house,” he said.
