Bhuj: THE tribal woman who delivered her baby near a filthy rivulet in Kutch’s Nakhatrana taluka after not getting aid from two hospitals has lost her child. The child died on Sunday night itself after it was delivered and brought by its parents to their work place in Dhabana village of adjoining Abdasa tulaka.
“We have already done his last rites with a heavy heart,” said the bereaved father Jamsing Ketu, who works as a casual labourer with a private bauxite mining company. Ketu said the chief district health officer visited him on Monday after the incident. “I will never forget that my child and wife couldn’t get decent treatment,” said Ketu.

Acting District Development Officer RG Gohil, describing the child’s death as unfortunate said that he had sent his CHDO for an on-the spot inquiry both at Nakhatrana and Dhabana village and had already sent a detailed report to the state government. “I cannot divulge details of my report, but it is true that the poor woman had to deliver her child in the open without medical help at Nakhatrana,” he said.

He said the cause of death had been given as due to premature delivery. When asked when no doctors had even examined the woman, how this could be cited as the reason, he said he was not a medical expert to give his opinion. When contacted, 1Anand Patel, superintendent of Nakhatrana CHS, said premature death had been cited as the couple had sought sonography test from the private hospital.

But Himmat Maharaj, president of Manav Seva Samiti, who organised help for the vicitim and who visited Dhabana village on Wednesday said that he had talked to medical experts who say that the child died because of not getting adequate post-natal nursing care. Gadhasisa based general manager of the Gujrat Mineral Development Corporation, Dinesh Prasad said that though the bauxite mines were theirs, the labourers working there belong to the mining company. He said there wa lack of medical facilities in the area but the company had provided a jeep to take the pregnant woman to Nakhatrana for delivery.

Courtesy: Ahmedabad Newsline - Ahmedabad,India