In what the state Secretariat of Health is calling a “fortuitous birth,” a woman from Aquila, Michoacán, was forced to deliver her child on the sidewalk outside the local government clinic due to an alleged lack of personnel on Wednesday.

Aurelia Ramírez Reyes had planned to have her daughter in the hospital in the town of Coalcomán, nearly four hours away, but the girl decided to come early.

When Aurelia’s water broke outside the Aquila clinic, she lay down on the sidewalk, where people from town helped. With their assistance, she gave birth on a towel and covered by a blanket, without any help from trained medical personnel.

The Michoacán Secretariat of Health (SSM) reported that Aurelia and her daughter were in stable condition.

It said that mother and child were going to be transferred to a hospital in the nearby town of Coahuayana to be examined by specialists and that the department is “carrying out internal investigations in order to avoid that these cases keep happening.”

The SSM also said that it will determine if there was any violation of established procedures on the part of the clinic’s staff.

“We have also taken steps to ensure that the Aquila Health Center has permanent doctors and nurses on staff,” it added.

Wednesday’s birth was the second such case in Michoacán this month. On February 2, Elvia Ascencio was forced to give birth without medical supervision in the waiting room of the General Hospital in Los Reyes.

The SSM called it a “spontaneous birth,” despite the woman being in the hospital awaiting medical attention.

Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo announced an investigation into the incident, but no results have been released.

Source: La Silla Rota (sp)