LAHORE: A woman gave birth to a baby in the stairs of the Lady Willingdon Hospital on Tuesday when the duty doctors allegedly delayed treatment.

The condition of the mother and baby was said to be stable as both were immediately admitted for followup care when the attendants lodged strong protest against the hospital administration.

Ghulam Murtaza of Sharaqpur told reporters that he brought his wife Reshman to the hospital for delivery on Tuesday morning. He said the duty doctors refused to entertain the patient without hospital card saying that according to the protocol given by the administration, only registered patients would be admitted for treatment.

Murtaza said he approached the medical superintendent to complain about the matter but he too asked him to bring the card first. “The hospital administration paid no heed to my entreaties that it’s high time the baby was delivered,” he said, adding that later the MS asked him to have a new card from the reception when he threatened to bring the matter to the notice of the higher authorities.

He rushed to the reception leaving his wife in the corridor of the hospital but the staff deputed there also delayed the registration, he alleged. He said his wife delivered baby in the stairs by the time he returned.

He called it a criminal offence and demanded action against the duty doctors, administration and the receptionist. He said all these people must be penalised for negligence.

Lady Willingdon Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Zafar Yusuf said all the patients were accommodated according to a policy. He said the administration asked the attendant to bring registration card from the reception for the convenience of the patient. “The registration is a mandatory requirement to keep the patient’s treatment record.”

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2015

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