Chief Minister Vijay recently inspected the old maternity hospital in Chennai’s Egmore. Relatives of patients receiving treatment at the hospital allege that even after the Chief Minister’s inspection, basic facilities have not been properly provided.

The maternity hospital on Pantheon Road in Chennai’s Egmore was built in 1844. Poor and needy women are admitted here for childbirth not only from Chennai but also from the districts surrounding Chennai.
After reports circulated on social media that basic facilities at this hospital were not properly in place, Chief Minister Vijay had visited the hospital in person and inspected it. He had also asked the patients admitted for maternity care about their grievances. Since the Chief Minister had gone for an inspection on July 8, we visited the hospital today.
As soon as we entered through the hospital’s entrance gate on Pantheon Road, it was shocking. The hospital premises were crowded, much like the crowds seen waiting at bus stands and railway stations on holidays.










People were lying on the floor, squeezed together, spreading out papers and blankets to keep the flies away. A few others were sitting even in that crowd, with infants in their arms. We spoke to the people waiting in that uncomfortable place.
'In this hospital, treatment is given properly. That’s why people come here for childbirth from all over. But there are no proper facilities here for relatives who come along to stay with pregnant women.
I stayed here for 8 days for my daughter’s delivery. She gave birth only after the first 4 days. During those four days, they didn’t allow any of us inside. Only after the baby was born did they let us in. Even that wasn’t a problem for us. As long as our child was safe, that was enough. But even within the hospital premises, there was no proper accommodation for us to stay.
They’ve put up a tin-sheet structure like a shed. It can hold only about 50 people. But 100–200 people end up cramped there. The mosquito bites are unbearable. Drinking water is available in one place, but not in another. If it rains, you can’t even sit inside that tin-sheet shelter.

Even now, look at this—there isn’t enough space inside this tin shed, and so many people are lying outside on the verandah. We’ve admitted our children inside. If anything urgent happens to them, we’re the ones who have to stay with them and take care of them. But there isn’t a hygienic place here for us to stay.
They tell us to come and apply for the birth certificate 15 days after the baby is born. We come carrying the newborn. Even then, we have to wait in this tin shed and on the veranda. There isn’t even a place to sit and keep the children safe. We’re afraid the infants might catch some infection,” they say.
Two months ago, the Chief Minister inspected this hospital. A few days ago, the Municipal Commissioner inspected the hospital. Inspections are continuing. But the problems troubling the public still haven’t been solved!
