Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren on Tuesday said the government had served a show-cause notice on a private hospital in Imphal stating why action should not be taken against it for allegedly refusing admission to a pregnant woman insisting on a COVID-19 negative certificate.
The video showing the woman being wheeled around in the private hospital went viral on social media. Health Minister L. Jayentakumar asked Dr. K. Rajo, Director of Health Services, to take immediate action. An ambulance was dispatched to pick up the woman. Dr. Rajo ensured that the woman was admitted to the J.N. Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, a government medical college, for safe delivery.
The government had recently issued a directive to all private and government hospitals not to deny medical assistance to anyone, including COVID-19 positive persons.
Recently a tribal woman was brought to Imphal for delivery. But government and private hospitals refused to admit her unless she is free of COVID-19. At last the husband took her to a private hospital near Imphal where she died at the gate.
