Burdwan:
When Parvati Majhi, who was pregnant, felt some pain, she didn't want to take any chances. So the 22-year-old headed straight to the Medical College and Hospital in Burdwan, which is around 100 kms north of Kolkata. Doctors who examined her at the hospital that's run by the government asked her to return in a month.
Too uncomfortable to move, and convinced that she needed medical attention, Parvati spent the night at a little make-shift shelter on the hospital premises. This morning, she met with doctors again. They repeated that she should see them after a month.
So Parvati and her mother Kalyani set off homewards in a bus. Within an hour, Parvati went into labour. Passengers stopped the bus at Talit and called a doctor for help. And so Parvati delivered her baby girl at a roadside tea stall.
The baby's grandmother, Kalyani, said, "We showed her to the doctor twice, yesterday and today. If they had given Parvati proper attention, she could have had a smooth delivery.
Officials at the Burdwan hospital say an enquiry has been ordered to determine if this was a case of medical negligence. Parvati's story comes at a time when West Bengal's hospitals are jostling with each other for headlines over poor facilities and inattentive doctors. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the Health portfolio, blames the Left that governed the state for decades till she won a landslide victory earlier this year.