Delhi High Court Rules For Pregnant Women’s Health To Be Prioritsed During The Covid-19 Lockdown. We Think It Was Necessary
With the lockdown in place, there have been quite a few adjustments in daily life that have to be made, that go beyond just getting used to staying at home and binge-watching stuff. With almost everything in the nation shut down, except for a few essential stores for groceries and medicines, even getting hands at the basic healthcare amenities during this time has become a bit of a problem, for all the attention and care has been diverted to the cause of coronavrius. And while that too is the need of the hour, the Delhi High Court recently realised that pregnant women’s health can also not be neglected during this time.
After a petition was made in this regard to the High Court, on an urgent basis, the Delhi High Court gave orders to the central and the state government of Delhi, to ensure that pregnant women are well tended to and taken care of at this time of a pandemic, their healthcare needs can easily go unnoticed due to the covid-19 virus scare.
Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad were on the bench and they ruled in favour of pregnant women to also be able to use the helpline number that was put in place for the senior citizens during the lockdown. And considering just how important this step was to be taken for the women who are expecting, we are glad that the need of this was recognised and a solution offered on an urgent basis. More so, since even getting to the hospital at a time of curfew and lockdown as such has become a bit of a task.
Also Read : A Woman In Delhi Named Her New Born Son After A Delhi Police Constable Because He Helped Her Reach The Hospital Just In Time. We Heart This
#DelhiHighCourt has asked the Centre and the Delhi govt to work in tandem to ensure that #pregnant women and their family members in #Coronavirus #hotspots face no barriers during the lockdown https://t.co/wxEdQjtunL
— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) April 24, 2020
A petition that was filed by SAMA, a women and health group, said, “Pregnant women who are approaching their delivery date in order to enable timely access to safe and comprehensive medical facilities for childbirth and neonatal care. Despite being recognised and categorised as essential services, many pregnant women are being denied access and are experiencing hurdles to access and avail comprehensive medical facilities, due to the lockdown imposed to control the COVID-19 pandemic.” A reality that was being constantly overlooked, as pregnant women were being forced to wait for over 48 hours to even be tended to at such a critical stage.
Deepa from SAMA continued to share how, “We got several requests from public and especially in rural areas where the most focus is on COVID-19 related patients and healthcare for pregnant women or abortion-related services were not being made available to women. Secondly, because of the lockdown, transport has also become a huge issue for women going to the hospital. Even enough ambulances aren’t there. In Delhi where we work from, we found several issues especially last week when we found out about Navniti who couldn’t access hospital just because she belonged from one of South Delhi’s hotspot red zones for coronavirus.”
Now with this ruling on their side, a helpline will be available to pregnant women to use in cases of concern, along with the appointment of a nodal officer in every Covid-19 hotspot who will coordinate with these women to provide them essential health services. The order that was passed on 22nd April said, “Union of India and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi shall work in tandem to make sure that no barriers are faced by pregnant ladies and their family members residing in hot spots during the lockdown,” and we are glad that this has been step has been taken to ensure women and their children’s well being at a time of a crisis.
