SINGAPORE - The National University Hospital (NUH) is investigating an incident where a woman, who was 36 weeks pregnant, was allegedly left unattended for two hours at the hospital's Emergency Medicine Department and later lost her baby.

In a Facebook post on Monday (March 21), the woman's husband said no one attended to his wife for two hours after she arrived at NUH in an ambulance on March 15 and was left "bleeding profusely" for about two hours.

In an update of his post on Monday afternoon, the 37-year-old engineer said he received a call on Monday from NUH which informed him that investigations into the matter are ongoing.

He did not respond when The Straits Times tried to contact him on Facebook.

When asked about the incident, NUH directed ST to its Facebook post.

NUH said on Facebook on Tuesday morning (March 22) that it is aware of social media posts and reports regarding the incident and is in touch with the family to provide support during this difficult time.

The NUH post said: "Out of respect for the family, we seek the public's understanding not to speculate about the circumstances surrounding the incident."

The woman's husband, whose Facebook name is Mee Pok Tah, said he called an ambulance after his wife started "bleeding profusely from the birth canal" as she was showering at 9.30pm on March 15.

According to him, paramedics arrived within 10 minutes and his wife was attended to immediately. She was taken to NUH and reached the hospital at about 10.30pm.

The man, who declined to be named, told Chinese-language evening daily Shin Min Daily News on Monday night that he did not join his wife at NUH as he had tested positive for Covid-19. 

He said he asked a female friend to join his wife at the hospital.

His wife, 37, a financial consultant who also declined to be named, told Shin Min that she was still bleeding profusely when she arrived at the hospital. She added that no one checked on her condition and she was not informed if there were any beds available in the maternity wards.

The man wrote on Facebook: "The nurse came and only set up the monitoring device to check on my (wife's) vital signs and left. She was left there bleeding profusely and left unattended for an estimated time of two hours.

"No doctors and nurses came to check and attend to my wife for two hours and no one informed her that there (was) no bed in the maternity ward."

He said his wife was sent to a maternity ward after two hours where she was attended to by doctors and nurses. He added: "After checking on my wife and the baby, the doctors told my wife that the (baby's) heart structure was there but there was no heartbeat and hence he has passed away."

The woman told Shin Min that the doctors in the maternity ward checked multiple times if they could detect a heartbeat from the baby, but eventually said there was no way to save him. She added that her baby’s expected due date was April 14.

The man said that when his wife told him the bad news at around 1am that night, he broke down. He added that he could not sleep for the rest of the night. 

The woman said she went through surgery to remove the foetus on March 16 and felt dazed as she had lost a lot of blood. She added that she held her son in her arms and said goodbye to him.

According to Mee Pok Tah’s post on Facebook, the baby was cremated at Mandai Crematorium on the same day.

Shin Min reported that the couple have two sons, aged two and seven. The man said his wife had tested positive for Covid-19 in early March, and he and his sons were subsequently also diagnosed with Covid-19.

The woman told Shin Min that she was hospitalised as she needed blood transfusions, which resulted in multiple bruises on her arms. She was discharged on Sunday. 

She added that she still felt pain and discomfort in her chest and abdomen. 

The man told Shin Min that he felt that if his wife had been attended to an hour or even a minute earlier, the baby might have survived.