Another Pregnant Woman Crosses River On Relatives' Shoulders In Odisha

Nuapada: While the State government claims to have taken several measures to improve infrastructure and healthcare facilities in rural pockets, the ground reality presents a totally different picture. Groaning in labour pain, a pregnant woman was carried on a stretcher by her family for few kilometres and made to cross a river to reach a hospital in Nuapada, after failing to avail an ambulance due to non-motorable roads.

The incident was reported from Chitarama village under Sinapali block of the district. As per reports, the woman's family claimed that they called an ambulance as soon as her labour started but to no avail. Left with no other option, they carried her on shoulders for three kms before wading through the waist deep river water.

“Assisted by a few villagers, the family members carried the woman on a stretcher and somehow managed to cross the river. Later, we shifted the woman to Sinapali CHC. She is undergoing treatment at the Maa Gruha,” said Jyotsna, a health worker.

It is not for the first time that an expectant mother had to face problems in seeking urgent medical aid owing to poor road connectivity and other infrastructural problems in the State, as similar incidents have been reported from Rayagada and other districts in the past.