Manju, the unfortunate pregnant woman brought by Haridwar police from Har Ki Paidi and admitted in female wing of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital, died on Thursday morning. She was five months pregnant.
Her death moved the nursing staff and other employees of the hospital who were caring her from April 8 when she was admitted the hospital. What brought some of them to tears was constant pleading by the unfortunate woman to let her go to her family or bring her two children to her. Suffering from a small form of mental disorder, the woman in her early thirties didn’t knew that there is no one in Har Ki Paidi area in Haridwar from where police picked her up, to recognise her.
Manju was found at Har Ki Paidi in critical condition. She was taken to a nearby hospital from where she was referred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS) Rishikesh but the police took her to the GDMC hospital. In the hospital, Manju said that she is wife of one Raju who is a Rickshaw puller and has two children. The administration of GDMC hospital asked the police to find her husband but the police took no interest. Later the hospital authorities contacted a social organisation, ‘Nanhi Si Dunya’ which sent its representative to the Har Ki Paidi area. This representative inquired many rickshaw pullers of the area but failed in his effort to trace Raju. Moved by her plight, the hospital staff took the task of caring the mentally sick woman. They provided cloths and meals to Manju. The condition of Manju deteriorated this week after which she was admitted in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where she breathed her last on Thursday morning. The death of Manju has left a question mark over the system’s failure to put in a place a system which takes care of destitute. When contacted, the Deputy Medical Superintendent (MS) of GDMC Hospital, Dr N S Khatri said that suffering from acute chest infection and her lungs were filled with water. “She had septicaemia and had mental issues. Since she was five months pregnant we were not in a position to induce labour pains or carry out an operation,’’ he said.