In Roadless Tribal Villages of Gujarat, Women in Labour Need to Be Carried Kilometres to Ambulances |
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Ahmedabad: The final blueprint of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar’s 2036 Summer Olympics plans estimates the total costs to be between Rs 34,700 crore and Rs 64,000 crore, according to a recent report.
A stroll around Bopal Ambli Road in Ahmedabad reveals infrastructure that would put Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex to shame. There is even a ‘Billionaire Street’ lined with lavish villas and aspirational five-bedroom apartments – one reportedly designed by Gauri Khan. Yet, less than three hours away, in Nasvadi taluka of Chhota Udepur district, the reality is starkly different.
When pregnant women in several villages of this taluka go into labour, their families are often forced to physically lift them onto stretchers and carry them for two to four kilometres to meet an ambulance where the road finally begins. This is a regular occurrence due to the lack of concrete roads; ambulances cannot reach interior villages. In the past few months alone, two women have died before reaching the hospital, this reporter has learnt.
In March, a pregnant Laxmi Ben (name changed) of Dubba village complained of labour pain. Her family called up the government ambulance. An ASHA worker came promptly, not with an ambulance but a stretcher. The family put her on the stretcher and carried her for two kilometres to where there was a road. The ambulance was waiting there. Laxmi managed to deliver her child eventually.
Jivli Bhil, a Kunda village resident who was pregnant and in labour, had to be placed on a makeshift stretcher stitched together from cloth. Her relatives and neighbours carried her on their shoulders for nearly a kilometre through Naswadi taluka to reach the ambulance. Only then could she be taken to a hospital. She too made it in time, and her child was delivered safely. But that is not the full story.
Kunda village sits in terrain where motorable roads simply don’t exist. Vehicles can’t get in. When a medical emergency strikes, especially at night and in labour, the only option is human arms. The ambulance waits where the roads begin. Over the past year, women in labour have been carried on cloth stretchers through villages such as Manukla, Khenda, Dukta, Jarkhali, Bhundmaria, Dubba, and Padwani. The distances ranged from two to five kilometres. In........