Mumbai Doctors Perform C-Section Under Mobiles' Torchlight, Deliver Stillborn, Mother Too Dies

Mumbai: A 26-year-old woman identified as Saheedunnissa Ansari succumbed on Monday after doctors at Mumbai's Sion Hospital performed a C-Section on her under the flashlight of mobile phones due to a power failure. 

The new mother died a few hours after the doctors delivered a stillborn boy, weighing around 4 kg.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) formed a 10-member committee to probe the matter that includes doctors from state-run JJ Hospital.

The woman's brother-in-law claimed that the newborn's heart rate had declined despite that the doctors didn't refer the case to a bigger hospital for a second opinion. 

The BMC responded that the power supply got cut off only after the baby was born when the doctors were stitching the mother 

The woman’s relatives have also alleged that the facility of the hospital did not have the necessary oxygen cylinders. 

A BMC Executive Health Officer confessed to some issues with the generator at the healthcare facility, the doctors had to resort to using torchlight for childbirth. 

She also said that the woman suffered from Post Partum Hemorrhage (PPH) that led to her severe vaginal bleeding after childbirth. She said that PPH cannot be predicted but the woman also had convulsions.