GALWAY: A senior midwife told an Indian woman her baby could not be terminated as she miscarried in an Irish hospital because "It's a Catholic thing", an inquest has heard.

Mrudula Vasealli said her friend Savita Halappanavar pleaded for her baby's heartbeat to be stopped when medical staff at Galway University Hospital said the foetus could not be saved.

Savita Halappanavar died at an Irish hospital after she was allegedly denied an abortion.

"She said, the midwife, 'We do not do that here dear. It's a Catholic thing"', Ms Vasealli told Galway Coroners Court.

"The nurses were lovely, They took good care of her. It's the system that was wrong."