Declared stillborn, baby noticed alive before funeral

Barely hours after being born, Karjat-resident Aruna Gaikwad’s daughter was at the centre of much drama after being declared stillborn by a civic hospital. Family members were headed to make funeral preparations when they saw the child gasping. She is now under observation in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The child, born on June 16 at the Sion hospital, was declared “stillborn” at the time of the delivery. As the family proceeded to take the child for the funeral, she began gasping and was rushed back to the hospital. Born at 32 weeks of pregnancy through a normal delivery, the 1.1-kilogram baby is still “very critical” and under observation at the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital.

Seven months into her second pregnancy, Gaikwad (30) was brought to the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, Sion, on June 15 as she began convulsing at her residence. “The other hospitals did not admit her and I had to bring he here,” said Bhagwan Gaikwad, Aruna’s husband.

According to hospital officials, she was admitted to Sion hospital on June 15 afternoon. As she was suffering from convulsions, they were forced to “induce labour” and put her on anti-convulgents and anti-hypertensive therapy.

“The baby was delivered at 7.21 pm on June 16. As no heartbeat was felt, the child was declared stillborn. The mother was on a high dose of sedatives and the convulsions may have lulled the child,” said Dr Suleiman Merchant, acting dean. The resident doctor on duty, according to Dr Merchant, “on visual observation” believed the child to be dead.

According to officials, another doctor on duty who issues birth and death certificates gave the certificate of death. With these in hand and a “limp baby”, the family proceeded for a funeral.

“I returned home after she was hospitalised as there were other relatives. I do not know what has happened in the last two days. I came back to the hospital today. Now I am relieved and concerned about my wife and child,” said Bhagwan, a daily-wage worker.

“A preliminary inquiry shows that the child was presumed dead on visual observation. We are making a detailed inquiry into any negligence,” said Dr Merchant.

The hospital authorities said an inquiry will be conducted to look into the sequence of events and as to why such a conclusion was arrived at, why the senior doctor was not consulted and whether the vital statistics of the child were recorded after the birth. Aruna, admitted in the female ward of the hospital, is still under sedation.