Mother, Newborn Baby Die After School Dropout Performs C-Section With Shaving Blade

In a shocking incident in India, a mother and her newborn baby died after a school dropout performed a C-section surgery on the expectant mother with a shaving blade.

The school dropout was employed at a local village clinic in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

According to local media reports, Rajendra Shukla, 30, used a shaving blade and performed the C-section surgery to take the baby out of the woman's womb, following which she started bleeding profusely. The newborn baby died minutes after the birth, media outlet the New Indian Express reported.

The incident took place in Saini village in Sultanpur district Wednesday night. According to the Times of India, the owner of a private hospital -- Maa Sharda Hospital -- hired Shukla to perform surgeries at the ill-equipped facility. Authorities said the nursing facility was being operated with the help of quacks and midwives.

“We found that it was an unregistered clinic with no infrastructure to perform surgeries. Quacks used razor blades to conduct operations," senior police officer Arvind Chaturvedi said, the Times of India reported.

The woman's husband took his wife to the clinic Wednesday after she went into labor. After she underwent the C-section, she started bleeding heavily and the staff at the clinic asked her husband to take her to some other hospital. As there were no other hospitals nearby, the woman was taken to Lucknow's KGMU Trauma Centre, more than 80 miles away, where she succumbed to injuries.

The woman's husband filed a complaint stating that his 33-year-old wife Poonam and their newborn baby died due to medical negligence. Both Shukla and Rajesh Sahni – owner of the private hospital – were arrested.

Following the tragic incident, the police have urged the chief medical officer to take strong action against such illegal clinics.

Last year in October, a mother and her newborn child died following a botched delivery performed by a fake doctor. The incident took place in the northern Indian city of Noida. Local media reported at the time the quack had dumped the bodies outside the facility and fled the area. "The clinic owner left both of them outside the clinic, shut it and fled from the spot," senior police officer Ankur Aggarwal told local media outlets at the time. A case under Indian Penal Code section 304A (causing death by negligence) was filed against the man.