Delhi hospital's poor condition forces' woman's abortion

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Friday questioned the Delhi government and the Centre on a petition filed by a woman saying that she lost her nine-month-old foetus due to the dilapidated conditions of a city hospital. 

A bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C. Hari Shankar issued a notice to Union ministry of health and family welfare, directorate of health services and five Delhi government-run hospitals asking them to reply in four weeks.

The petitioner, a resident of north Delhi’s Karawal Nagar, said on December 14, 2015, said that she was admitted to a city government hospital with high blood pressure in her ninth month of pregnancy. Due to the unhealthy environment in the hospital ward and the beds infested with cockroach and rats, her condition began to deteriorate rapidly and she had an abortion. 

She claimed that the foetus remained in her womb and was removed by doctors only after three days. 

The petition sought the court to give direction to both governments to take steps to “immediately resurrect the dangerously dilapidated health system in the hospitals run by them”. 

It also sought utilisation of funds to infuse instant course correction, prevention of health hazards to thousands of citizens and ensure immediate medical attention and treatment to patients in real need.

The petitioner also sought directions to be given to the Delhi police to investigate the “misappropriation of medical funds by concerned authorities or persons, which has resulted in dearth of facilities and infrastructure”.