An enquiry has been launched into the incident of a woman giving birth in front of the Maternity hospital road in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh on the night of Sunday, November 22. A video that showed the woman going through labour pains and some women holding a bedsheet above her, as a cover and a primary health centre worker helping her to give birth to the child has gone viral on social media. According to reports, Tirupati district collector K Venkataramana Reddy has issued summons to the Health Department ordering an enquiry into the incident. The report also said that the woman was identified as Kanthari, and was denied admission to the 100-bed Tirupati Maternity Hospital.
While it was alleged that the hospital staff did not allow her inside the hospital, the administration has claimed that the woman herself did not know that she was pregnant and did not consult the hospital previously. However, the hospital staff took the woman and the child inside the hospital later.
This incident has led to widespread outrage from the women’s organisations as well as political parties, who had alleged that the woman wasn’t given admission to the hospital because she did not come with a bystander. TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu took to Twitter criticising the AP government regarding the issue. “This government has ruined the public health system in AP.