Chennai: An eight-month pregnant woman, who was a native of Odisha, died in a government hospital in Chennai after she reportedly took a pill to abort her fetus, fearing delivery-related complications.
According to police, the 23-year-old, identified as Kumari Kanjaka, lived in a rented house at Thanthai Periyar Nagar in Korattur with her husband, Pratap Ulaka, and niece, Geetha Kanjaka.
The Times of India quoted police as saying that the woman, along with her niece, had travelled to Odisha on September 14 to attend the funeral of a relative, who died of labour-related complications, and as a result, was tense on return to Chennai.
Kumari slipped in her bathroom and suffered injures. Initially, she was admitted to a private hospital, where she was treated for her injuries and then sent home. As she complained of regular and severe stomach pains, her husband got her admitted to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital on September 25.
A senior doctor said that she was critical and the tests showed perforations and infections in her womb. “We told the family that the uterus has to be removed,” the doctor added.
The hospital performed a hysterectomy but the woman’s condition did not improve and she died in six hours.
His family members told the doctor that she had taken pills to abort the baby in her seventh month. The uterus was already fragile due to the fall and the medicine could have punctured it so anything can be ascertained only based on the post-mortem report, the doctor was quoted as saying by the national daily.
