Woman gives birth on dirt path
Lack of medical facilities, tribal woman carried in Dholi
A tribal woman who was being carried to a hospital in a makeshift stretcher gave birth on a slushy road on a hillside in a forest in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
Ms Choudepaly Muthaiama, 24, was being carried by her family members to a health care facility because the ambulance could not reach the hill-top Masika Chintavalasa hamlet in Salur mandal of the Parvathipuram tribal belt in Vizianagaram district.
Even as the family was carrying Ms Muthaiama, she went into labour and gave birth on the road. A video of the incident, which was posted on social media, shows the newborn lying on a piece of cloth that was spread on the path, and a woman cutting the umbilical cord with a sharp stone. A youth posted the video on social media to highlight the lack of road connectivity in the village.
A tribal woman who was being carried to a hospital in a makeshift stretcher gave birth on a slushy road on a hillside in a forest in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
A government officer said that on coming to know that the woman was facing difficulty in reaching the primary health centre, a medical unit had been sent to meet her midway.
“By the time our staff reached, the woman delivered a baby girl with the help of women accompanying her. Our medical team provided necessary postnatal care. The woman and the newborn baby are fine,” Ms G. Lakshmisha, project officer with the Integrated Tribal Development Projct, said on Friday.
Similar incidents have been reported in the past, both in Andhra Pradesh and in Telangana state from the remote Agency areas.
Officials said because of the remoteness of the area, pregnant women had been asked to report to hospitals a week before they are due to give birth. It is only of late that tribals had been coming to hospitals for institutional delivery, officials said.
The government has sanctioned `5.5 crore to providing road connectivity to the villages under the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), but no contractor had bid for the work because of the difficult terrain, sources said.
The government has made available a palanquin for the villagers but they have not been using it “since it was heavy”, sources said.