Stories of two pregnant women

I read two contrasting weird ( if I could say ! ) stories in today’s daily about two pregnant woman and their stories kept me thinking for a long time. In fact this day would be memorable day ( for good and bad reason) in these two women’s life.

Story 1 – A lady was forced to deliver a baby on street after hospital denies her an admission !! tragically the baby couldn’t survive due to lack of medical care. This happens in the financial capital of India,Mumbai.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/baby-dies-after-woman-is-forced-to-deliver-on-footpath-140258

Story 2 – A pregnant lady whose due date was just around the corner participates in Chicago marathon,completes 26 miles run and immediately delivers a baby( Oh yeah ! she is rushed to hospital). Both Mom and baby are doing fine.

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-woman-pregnant-marathon-baby-20111010,0,6975516.story

While the story 2 is inspiring, story 1 is very heart breaking and a reflection to the sorry state of India’s medical systems/policy…whatever…Looks like we have forgotten the value of life here,something which should have been the core value. How can the hospital authorities be so negligent that can cost parents this tremendous loss ? Very hard for me to understand. imagine what might be going on this women’s mind who had protected her baby for 9 months in her womb and has to lose her new-born child for no fault of her’s !! who needs to be blamed for this ? It’s a shameful neglect by the hospital authorities and the concerned authorities need to take appropriate action against the culprits. Unfortunately this is not one-off case,but a very common plague bothering so-called fast pace developing India ! Ironically this was the third case in the hospital in less than 3 months. I’m surprised and shell-shocked that so far no actions are taken against the culprits for previous instances. This is a clear case of shielding the rich influential people in the society. How come the hospital authorities haven’t learnt from their previous mistakes ? Was there a genuine reason is denying admission in all the 3 instances ? Hope some investigations will throw light on this matter. But what I fail to understand is the motto behind turning down the admission. If money is the reason( which seems to be), It’s high time we go back to our basics values on compassion and empathy. I only hope and pray that every person at every level, of every age learn the art of nurturing compassion within.

On one hand there are section of people who can afford luxury 5 star hospitals to deliver their babies,on the other hand most struggle to make it to labor rooms ! This shows the wide disparity between rich and poor we have in the society. My heart goes to majority of the people in rural India who are still struggling to get basic amenities like clean water,hospitals,sanitary,roads,electricity to name few. Don’t they deserve a better life like most of us ? Shouldn’t they be part of the mainstream life like us ? How long do they need to struggle to get their basic stuffs in place ? Mr. Rahul Gandhi, Having one meal at dalit’s house not going to solve the nation problem..Hope your intention is genuine and not to build your case for PM ship !!

Back to the story 2 (marathon lady), amazing that she had the will power to run 26 miles in her 39^th week. Most fit and healthy think twice before participating.Just the thought of running( ok walking) 26 miles may take steam off a person.Kudos to this brave lady who showed the nerve to participate and even complete the race ! She even beat her husband in the race clocking 6:25:50. A true inspiration to all of us to achieve something. Congratulations to proud parents and little June.

My common thread to these two stories  are the Systems and thought process of the individual(s). My mind is wanting to draw a comparison between these two women of two different continents ! Let me explain. Exercise or running by pregnant women is still not very common in Indian society.I don’t deny that doctors  do advise to take a good walk,but in majority the concept of exercise is still not there. People need to be educated that the pregnancy phase is very important and delicate as well,thus necessary caring is a must. A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons found that exercise during pregnancy can improve the mother’s health and may have a positive effect on pregnancy-related symptoms.

Regarding systems in place, India need to look at other developed countries and tighten the healthcare policies. You can’t just boast of a growing economy while majority of the people fighting hard to get their basic rights. A responsible government( read it as society) should not afford to lose the life of it’s citizens this cheaply.. It’s ok for PM/President to talk about the issues which matters the most to the people.Infact the presidential debates in US primarily focus on healthcare,jobs,gas price,amenities etc..We need to get to the root of the issues which matters most. BTB, Mr. Advani, I’m still not sure what your 6^th Rath yatra purpose is ?? Good luck on your bid to prime minister ship . These politicians never care about the common man issues, it’s we who need to take charge of the situations and drive it. In a responsible society, a situation like pregnant woman in streets delivering baby would not have occurred..

While I mourn the death of the new born baby, I strongly hope that we learn lessons from these and take measures that these incidents don’t occur again. Pray to god that Tabassum gets all strength to bear the loss of her dear one.

Congratulations to Amber. Lucky you and yeah,thanks to the system, You were rushed to hospital in less than a minute after you got your labor pain…