Pinay mother struggles to bury dead child in India

A Filipina nurse on her way back to the Philippines from Dubai was forced to give birth on an airplane last week and struggled to bury her newborn child days after the infant died in a hospital in India.
Grace Alexandria, 40, gave birth to a baby girl on an Emirates flight while it entered Indian airspace last week, a report on the New Indian Express said Tuesday.
The incident prompted the flight crew to make an emergency landing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad so that Alexandria and the infant could receive emergency treatment at the airport hospital.
She was eventually rushed to the hospital's branch at Jubilee Hills, but her child, who was born prematurely, died later on.
Doctors stated that the child's poor health and premature birth contributed to her death.
Alexandria was unable to secure passage for her daughter's body back to the Philippines and settled for burying her child in a plot at a local church.
However, she was informed that only families registered with local churches may use the graveyards and have the last rites performed on their loved ones.
She eventually received aid from William D. Dar, former director-general of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), who referred her to Tourism Secretary Shri B.Venkatesham.
A separate report on Deccan Chronicle said Venkatesham visited Alexandria on Monday to tell her that the Telangana government decided to shoulder her hospital bills, which the hospital reduced on humanitarian grounds.
A report on The Hindu said Venkatesham also made funeral arrangements for Alexandria's child  and offered to shoulder her ticket costs on behalf of the Tourism department. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

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