Surat women face sonography ordeal

Women from the lower-middle-class and below-poverty line (BPL) families in Surat are grappling with excruciating challenges as they navigate long, winding queues at the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC)-run SMIMER hospital and the New Civil Hospital (NCH) for sonography tests.

This plight has intensified due to the non-functionality of approximately 11 sonography machines across 10 maternity homes and seven community health centres (CHCS) affiliated with the Surat Municipal Corporation, persisting for the last two months.

The distressing ordeal for these mothers involves enduring lengthy queues, sometimes standing for hours, which often leads them to forgo basic bodily needs, including the agonizing task of withholding urine during the prolonged waits at SMIMER and New Civil Hospital.