Maharashtra pregnant woman carried to hospital in bedsheet; Baby dies on way
The 32-year-old woman from Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi gave birth to the baby while being carried to the health centre in a bedsheet due to lack of an access road in the village
A new born infant died after a 32-year-old tribal woman from Dharmipada, Dhigashi village in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi gave birth while being carried to the health centre in a bedsheet due to lack of an access road in the village, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The video of a group of villagers carrying the woman in the bedsheet went viral on social media.
Dashana Farale, who complained of delivery pain on September 1 around 9am, was being carried in a bedsheet by 8-10 villagers as the village does not have an access road and the path they take is through a hilly area and has muddy puddles.
The villagers have been demanding an access road in the village for the last 10 years. However, their demands were not met.According to the villagers, the primary health centre is around 1.5km away from the village, which has around 100 families living there.
“It takes at least 30-45 minutes to cross the pathway and reach the health centre. On Thursday, when we heard of Darshana screaming with labour pain we decided to immediately take her to the hospital. We jointly held a bedsheet and made her lie inside and left the house. While we reached half way, she gave birth to the baby. We tried rushing to the hospital. However, when there was no response from the baby, we realised the baby is no more,” said Aadesh Rayat, 27, a resident of the village.
“ We did not proceed to the hospital after that as there was no point. We carried her back home with the new born. While darshana’s condition was also bad. There was no help from the health department even after informing about the incident. The health department staffs visited her house next day and took darshana for further post delivery treatment,” he added.
Darshana lived with her husband and two children and this was her third pregnancy. The villagers also claimed that last year there was an incident where an old woman, who suffered from leg injury, had to be carried the similar way.
“If there is no access road built, more people will die due to emergency cases in the village. It is our request to the government to help us with a basic access road soon to save lives,” said another villager, who did not wish to be named.
Aadik Patil, tahsildar of Bhiwandi, said,”I will send my staff and check about the matter and do the needful.”