Death of pregnant woman after hospitals refuse admission
Many decry, demand stiff penalties
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 07 2020: The International Human Rights Association (IHRA) Manipur while demanding that the Government take up stringent action over the death of a young pregnant mother and her unborn child has also demanded immediate resignation of the Health Minister on humanitarian ground.

The association, in a statement, said the news of a pregnant woman who was denied admission by various hospitals which subsequently led to her death came as an utter shock to many.

"We strongly condemn any organisation or individual involved in the denial of admission or denial to initiate treatment leading to the death of the woman and her child.

"We demand that the Government take stringent actions against the guilty.

In addition, we demand the immediate resignation of the Health Minister since the deplorable incident is a clear portrayal of incompetence and the lack of dedication towards serving people in the true sense of service," IHRA stated.

The Naga Women's Union in a separate statement has urged the State Government to take up stringent action at the earliest.

The union also demanded to make sure such preventable death due to 'negligence, irresponsibility and inhumane act' never happens in the future.

"The Naga Women's Union was shocked and saddened to hear the untimely demise of a young mother with her unborn child due to the negligence by the Medical Department.

The Union condemns in the strongest term the inhumane, negligent and irresponsible act of the doctors and nurses who denied admission to the patient resulting in her death," the body stated.

The Thadou Youth Association has also condemned the alleged inhumane act adding that the pregnant woman died died after going from one hospital to the other for 16 hours.

While strongly condemning the alleged inhuman act of the hospitals and demanding action against the medical officials, the TYA also alleged that private hospitals made various excuses for not admitting the pregnant woman and asked as to why the hospitals refused to admit her despite having a Covid-19 negative result or are hospitals meant only for treating Covid-19 patients? Taking serious note of the situation, the TYA demand action against the staff and nurses for the discrimination against a pregnant woman.

The TYA also recalled that Senapati district hospital was the first hospital approached by the victim's family which in turn referred her to JNIMS hospital, Imphal where admission was denied.

The same thing happened when she was taken to RIMS and other private hospitals, alleged TYA and demanded strict action at the earliest.

It may be mentioned that Kanpatliu Kamei (20) w/o of Roshan Balang of Oktan (Puichi) village, Tamenglong district died along with her unborn child after she was reportedly denied treatment by as many as five Government and private hospitals yesterday.

The Health Department has constituted an enquiry committee to investigate the incident with the instruction to submit its report within a week's time.

Women in Governance (WinG), women's wing of the All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU), Republican Party of India (Athawale), Village Council Longmai Area (VCLA) and Ningol Club also condemned the incident and demanded actions against the hospitals involved.

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