Tirupati hospital says woman who gave birth on road was not denied entry

A day after visuals of a woman giving birth outside a hospital in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh went viral, the hospital has said that the woman was not denied entry into the hospital like how it has been reported in the media but rather the woman did not approach the hospital in the first place.  A source from the Tirupati Maternity Hospital told TNM that the woman who arrived in the city on Sunday, was not mentally stable and was not aware that she was pregnant. “She was roaming around in the city and when the labour pain started, she was in the vicinity of the hospital. There was no one to take her to the hospital,” said the source. 

It was earlier reported that the woman, who was identified as Kanthari, was forced to give birth on the road, just a few meters away from the 100-bed maternity ward, after the hospital denied her admission. It was alleged that she was denied admission as she did not have anyone accompanying her.

“Why didn’t the people who were taking the video of the delivery take her to the hospital? They just wanted to make a viral video. When the information reached the hospital, an ambulance was immediately sent to bring the woman to the hospital. After providing her the primary care, doctors tried asking her when she arrived in Tirupati and what happened to her. But she was not able to respond, probably because of difficulty in comprehending the language,” said the hospital source, who also went on to add that the woman is also not sure who the father of her child is. 

After news reports of the incident came out on Tuesday, November 22, District Collector Venkataramana Reddy ordered the District Medical and Health Officer to conduct a probe into the incident. Several women welfare organisations and the Opposition Telugu Desam party had also criticised the public health system under the Andhra Pradesh government.