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The Johor Health Department has addressed the recently viral claim about a COVID-19 patient who gave birth alone at Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI), Johor Bahru
According to Malaysiakini, a woman claimed on Facebook that she had a harrowing experience giving birth without the help of doctors and nurses after testing positive for COVID-19 when she presented to the hospital in labour.
She wrote that she was not allowed by the doctors to deliver normally and was placed in an isolation ward to await a caesarean section.
She said she was left alone the whole time while waiting for the operation when suddenly she felt unbearable stomach pains and was gushing blood.
However, when she called out for help, nobody came.
Image for illustration purposes only.
Image via New Straits Times
“I tried calling for nurses and doctors one more time, but disappointingly, they did not respond,” she wrote
The woman said she delivered the baby on her own and even almost dropped it off the bed.
“I prayed and lifted my legs. I pushed not even for two seconds, and thankfully I safely delivered my baby without the help of doctors and nurses,” she said.
“It took me another 10 minutes of shouting with my remaining energy for the doctors and nurses to come. But I was disappointed hearing them laughing outside,” she added.
Harian Metro reported that the woman’s Facebook post was dated 31 July, but the story only went viral this week.
The post has since been deleted, but screenshots and copies have been widely shared on social media.
Image via Harian Metro
The Johor Health Department has since confirmed that there was a patient who gave birth alone at the hospital
In a statement yesterday, 1 September, department head Dato’ Dr Aman Rabu said the 36-year-old patient presented to the hospital on 23 July with early signs of labour. She was pregnant at 39 weeks with her fourth child.
He then gave an account of events that occurred from when the patient arrived until hospital staff found her with her baby on the bed, and also gave possible explanations to why nobody heard her.
“The patient was COVID-19 positive and had to be placed in an isolation room. The delivery process happened unexpectedly and took place six hours ahead of the expected delivery time,” he wrote.
“She was left in room number two with the door closed because she was COVID-19 positive and the room is quite far from the nurses’ counter,” he said.
He added that the personal protective equipment (PPE) ‘donning’ procedure takes time and that maybe the patient heard laughs from a nearby room where a vacuum delivery was taking place.
However, he assured that the department will investigate this incident further and make necessary improvements.