On Camera: Newborn Dies As Woman Gives Birth Outside Lucknow’s Raj Bhavan, Sparks Political Slugfest

A video of the incident doing the rounds on social media shows the woman giving birth behind a curtain, apparently made out of a saree, as women commuters join in for help.

Lucknow, UP: A pregnant woman gave birth on the roadside outside the Raj Bhavan in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow on Sunday. The newborn was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared it brought dead. The incident triggering a political slugfest as the opposition claimed that the woman was forced to deliver her baby on the road due because an ambulance was not available to take her to the hospital.

A video of the incident doing the rounds on social media shows the woman giving birth behind a curtain, apparently made out of a saree, as women commuters join in for help. The woman was reportedly four-and-a-half-months pregnant.

This is near Rajbhavan in the heart of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. A woman delivered on road as several women commuters on the spot came to her rescue. pic.twitter.com/1lVAuhtGGL

— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) August 13, 2023

Confirming the incident, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds the health portfolio said that he was heading to the spot to get further information about the incident. “I have taken cognizance of the incident and I am going to the spot. What I have been told by the principal secretary is that this family was going in a rickshaw and the incident took place near gate number 13 of the Raj Bhavan,” Pathak had told news agency PTI earlier.

The baby was taken to Veerangana Jhalkari Bai Women and Child Hospital where it was declared dead by doctors. It was later buried at Baikunth Dhaam in Lucknow.

Giving details , a doctor posted at the labour room of Veerangana Jhalkari Bai Women and Child Hospital said that following the incident, the woman, Rupa Soni, underwent a check up at around 12.30 pm.

“Earlier in the day, she had gone to the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital in Lucknow after experiencing pain and was administered an injection. She went home but did not get any relief,” the doctor said.

“While on her way here, she delivered (the baby) outside Raj Bhavan. The baby was brought dead,” the doctor said.

No ambulance available

A incident drew a sharp reaction to the state of health services in UP from Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav who alleged that the woman was forced to give birth on the road due to the “non-availability” of an ambulance.

“The state’s health system is on ventilator support despite lakhs of advertisements and claims. A pregnant woman going to the hospital by rickshaw was forced to deliver on the roadside near Raj Bhavan due to the non-availability of an ambulance. It is shameful for the entire system and it is the reality of the state’s health system,” he said in a post in Hindi on X.

However, Pathak trashed the accusations and said the woman decided to take a rickshaw and not an ambulance to the hospital, but when some passersby outside the Raj Bhavan called an ambulance, it arrived in 25 minutes.

“The ambulance responded in 25 minutes. They (the family) had not sought an ambulance initially and took a rickshaw,” Pathak said.

(With PTI inputs)

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