In a shocking case, a Dalit woman delivered a baby in the toilet of a medical college hospital in Kerala’s Malappuram district, after a nurse compelled her to relieve herself instead of taking her complaint of pain seriously, her family said on Saturday.

According to close relatives of the woman, admitted to the Manjeri Medical College hospital in Malappuram district, the staff displayed an "indifferent attitude" towards them. 

When she complained of severe pain, a nurse insisted that she needed to urinate to reduce the pain, said a close relative. 

“The nurse came to check the movement of the foetus. She said that there was no movement from the foetus because the mother is holding back urine. The mother was not even able to move from the bed because of pain. But the nurse compelled her to go to the toilet and urinate. She (the pregnant woman) was telling us she can’t sit to urinate. So stood there and urinated. By that time, she delivered the child into the commode,” Lekha one of the relatives told media.

“I was not able to hold the mother and child at same time. Later the child was taken by another relative to the ICU. No doctors or nurses were present there even though they knew that those were the final moments before delivery,” she added.

The mother and the baby were later shifted to the Intensive Care Unit.

While the incident occurred on Friday night, it came to media attention on Saturday afternoon.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy expressed shock over the incident. State Health Minister KK Shailaja told the media that the Malappuram District Medical Officer has been ordered to submit a report on the incident, and promised that strict action will be taken for any lapses.