A woman whose five-year-old daughter was left severely disabled - after allegedly being starved of oxygen for more than 30 minutes before her delivery - told a court yesterday how she had suffered severe abnormal pain for hours before she gave birth to the girl by an emergency Caesarean section.
Chum Oi-wa, 41, told the Court of First Instance that despite her complaints of constant and severe pain, Kelvin Kong Sai-wai, who was on duty at the labour ward of the Tuen Mun Hospital, refused to deliver her baby and sent her back to the pre-natal ward to wait.
'I was in great pain,' Mrs Chum said, adding that the pain was different from normal labour pain.
Mrs Chum said she went to the hospital on the evening of September 22, 1998, because she felt pain and thought it might be time for the delivery. But she was sent home two days later after a doctor said the baby was not due yet.
She returned to the hospital early on September 25, complaining of pain, but was told to keep walking.
Finally, after 7.15pm, when the pain had immobilised her, Mrs Chum said a nurse checked the pulse of the foetus. She then rushed Mrs Chum into the labour ward for the emergency delivery.
