A 25-year-old woman died hours after giving birth to a boy, because an ambulance in a state-run healthcare facility at Farakka, which was supposed to shift her to a better hospital, did not arrive for about 105 minutes.

The incident took place at the Farakka Block Hospital on Sunday afternoon.

The relatives of the deceased became furious, protesting against the hospital authorities. Farakka police had to reach the hospital and restore normality.

The victim, Jamila Khatun, 25, was a Pakur resident, from Jharkhand, but was residing at her father's home in Imamnagar village of Farakka during her pregancy.

On Sunday morning, she went into premature labour and gave birth to a boy. Her family members quickly got her admitted to the Farakka Block Hospital.

Around 11am, the patient's condition deteriorated. After conducting tests on her, the Farakka Block Hospital authorities referred her to the Jangipur Subdivisional Hospital. However, no ambulance was available to take her to Jangipur.

"Nobody responded to my countless calls when I called the state-run ambulance service number, 102. Moreover, there was no government ambulance at all in the hospital. Since we live in a mofussil area, no private ambulance is available. Finally, an ambulance was called from the Arjunpur hospital. The ambulance arrived after an hour and 45 minutes. By then, my daughter had died," said Jamila's father, Jahu Sheikh, 50.

"My daughter got married in Nutan Amtala of Pakur district. My son-in-law is a migrant worker. So I brought her to my house as she was pregnant," he said.

“She gave birth in the morning without any proper warning... we thought childbirth at home is not correct in this day and age so we shifted them both to the hospital,” he added.

“After 11am, she suddenly started having breathing problems. After the doctors did the tests, they asked us to take her to the Jangipur hospital. But there was no way to take her.... By the time that ambulance arrived, my daughter was dead. My daughter died because of the negligence of the hospital authorities. Her newborn son is motherless,” said the father.

Farakka block medical officer Masiur Rahaman said: “This woman had given birth at home. After being admitted to our hospital, a check-up was done. An ECG showed that the condition of her heart was not good.”

“We immediately referred her to the Jangipur Subdivisional Hospital. But since there was no government ambulance, they could not take her. Both the ambulances of my hospital had gone to Jangipur in the morning with patients. As a result, there was no ambulance at the hospital at that time. I was visiting another hospital,” he added.

“When the hospital informed me about the ambulance, I even arranged for an ambulance to be brought here from another hospital. It is true that there was a little delay in that... her condition had deteriorated further by then. The patient died after getting into that ambulance,” Rahaman said.