BUMPY RIDE TO HOSPITAL

TWO women from Naqiroso settlement delivered their babies enroute to the Lautoka Hospital because of the difficulties in accessing the main road.

Naqiroso is located about six kilometres from Lautoka City.

Settlement headman Ratu Sione Ravusou said there was no road access to the settlement and the pregnant mothers who were in labour had to be carted in wheelbarrows for about a kilometre along a very boggy track.

“Even when they got to the Queens Rd, getting transport was very difficult and they gave birth in the vehicles that were transporting them to the hospital,” he said.

“This is also the same routine followed for sick people, they are either carried or taken by wheelbarrow to the Queens Rd.

“We have been doing this for many years and while we are used to it, it is not good for our pregnant women, the elderly and the sick.

“So we are pleading to the authorities to look into our concern.

“We do not have the money to develop our settlement and we do hope that by highlighting our plight in the media, our concerns will be looked into.”

Naqiroso is home to 108 people.

Picture: REINAL CHAND Merewalesi Seru (left), Rupeni Baleiwai and Ratu Sione Ravusou are the elders of Naqiroso settlement in Lautoka.

Picture: REINAL CHAND A view of the Naqiroso settlement in Lautoka.

Picture: REINAL CHAND Headman Ratu Sione Ravusou shows the damage done to their graveyard because of rising sea level at Naqiroso settlement in Lautoka.