Sans proper roads, people in Odisha rely on cots to carry patients

Balasore: Failure of ambulance services to villages due to poor road connectivity forcing people to carry patients on cots continue to be reported from several parts of the State every day. In another such incident, a patient was seen carried on a cot at Gudikhula village under Oupada block of the district today.

According to reports, a local of Gudikhula who was suffering from high fever required an ambulance to carry him to the hospital.

Even as his family members called up for an 108 ambulance, it could not reach the patient owing to lack of motorable roads to the village.

With no options left the family members along with some villagers placed the patient on a cot and walked for more than 2kms to reach the ambulance.

"This is not the first time as even expectant mothers and serious patients were carried on cot previously. The ambulance could not reach the village due to poor roads so we carried my son to the ambulance stationed far from the village," said Jalandhar, father of the patient.

Locals complain that the village is surrounded by dense forest and there is no source of communication nor any pucca roads to the village which has been the main concern for them in times of emergency such as this. There are as many as 200 residents in the village.

Earlier on Friday, two such incidents were reported from Mayurbhanj and Malkangiri districts. In last one month several other incidents were also witnessed in other parts of Odisha.