The Johor State Health Department (JKNJ) opened investigations on allegations that a woman gave birth alone at a hospital in Johor after a Facebook post about the incident went viral in July.
According to Utusan, the woman made a Facebook post on 31 July claiming that she had to give birth alone in a special isolation room for pregnant mothers who tested positive for Covid-19. She claimed that her calls for help from the hospital staff were not entertained.
In a statement released by JKNJ on 1 September, Johor Health Director, Datuk Dr Aman addressed the issue and said that the department will conduct a more detailed investigation into the incident and take necessary action accordingly.
In the statement, he said the 36-year-old patient was 39 weeks pregnant with her fourth child.
“The patient had arrived at the screening room at 5.33am on 23 July because she was having early signs of labour. She was a close contact with her husband who was Covid-19-positive,” he said.
“The patient was examined by a medical officer and it was found that she was in the early stages of birth (3cm dilated) and was admitted to the isolation room at 10.18am while awaiting the results of the Covid-19 test.”
“The patient was placed in the delivery room with the room door closed because the patient tested positive for Covid-19 and the room was quite far from the nurses’ counter.”
The statement added that medical officers and nurses were ‘donning’ (putting on PPE) and examining the patient at 4.26pm. A decision was later made to deliver the baby through Caesarean section by a specialist as the woman tested positive for Covid-19.
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At that time, the woman was only 4cm dilated and was having irregular contractions. She was then prepared for surgery and place in a closed isolation room.
However, the delivery process started occurring unexpectedly, six hours earlier than the time they had anticipated.
“The patient had given birth alone and the baby was found to be in the patient’s bed. The donning process takes time before the staff on duty can assist the patient,” the statement said.
The woman also claimed that she had heard people laughing nearby, but Dr Aman said that the laughter may have come from another delivery room that was performing a ‘vacuum’ birth procedure.
JKNJ confirmed today (2 September) that the allegations of the woman giving birth alone are true, reported BERNAMA.
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