A 25-year-old pregnant woman named Shabnam from Kerala gave birth to her baby in an autorickshaw after she was denied medical attention by three hospitals in Bengaluru because of COVID-19 scare.

Shabnam, who hails from Pazhayangadi in Kerala's Kannur district, was first taken to a government hospital near her home in Gauripalaya. After the staff there refused to admit her saying that they had stopped taking new patients due to COVID-19 scare, she was taken to two other hospitals where she had to experience a similar denial.

As Shabnam, her mother, and brother were heading to the fourth hospital, the lady delivered the baby in the autorickshaw near Sidhapura. The woman was then shifted to KIMS Hospital with the help of Bengaluru-based Kerala social organisations. "We knocked the doors of Vanivilas Government Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital and a private hospital. I was writhing in pain, but the hospitals did not show any mercy and shut doors on us," Shabnam said. The mother and baby boy are in good health, said doctors.

Meanwhile, Shabnam's husband Jamsheer is stuck in Kannur because of lockdown.