After a tribal woman delivered a baby girl in an unused drain in the premises of a hospital, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led government in Odisha was of show-off and treachery, accusing the incumbent government of medical negligence in far-flung areas of the state.
"In Odisha, the basic medical facilities have been destroyed. The present government of the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha does not even care about the poor, the needy, the tribals and the Dalits of the state. The incumbent government has failed to provide medical and education facilities in the far flung areas of the state. The state government must come forward and answer that why such situation took place. This is a government of show off and illusion," Pradhan told ANI.
According to the woman's relatives, the Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital refused to admit her without the required medical documents.
The authorities later admitted the mother, identified as Daina Muduli, and her newborn to the hospital after she lay unattended for nearly an hour.
Daina Muduli, a resident of Janiguda village in Dasmantpur block, had come to the hospital in the district headquarter town on Thursday with her mother and sister to meet her husband Raghu Muduli, who had been admitted on Wednesday because of fever.
On Friday morning, Daina felt labour pains and visited the gynecology ward but the staff allegedly refused to admit her.
When contacted, Koraput chief district medical officer Lalit Mohan Rath denied the allegations, terming them 'baseless'.
An investigation is underway.