Pregnant woman dies in Odisha as ambulance runs out of fuel

Mayurbhanj chief district medical officer Pradip Mohapatra said the woman and her husband Chittaranjan Munda called for 102 and 108 ambulances in vain and were forced travel in the rickety ambulance of the Bangiriposi community health centre that stopped after travelling 15 km.

A tribal woman and her unborn child on the way to a hospital died late Friday night after the ambulance carrying them ran out of fuel halfway in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha.

Dilapidated ambulance of an Odisha health centre ran out of fuel mid way to hospital, killing a pregnant woman and her unborn son (HT Photo/File/Representative)

Tulasi Munda, a 27-year-old tribal woman from Hanida village had been admitted to the Bangiriposhi community health centre in Mayurbhanj after she went into labour on Friday night. However, the doctors there referred her to Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital in Baripada, 40 km away after she was found having high blood pressure.

Mayurbhanj chief district medical officer Pradip Mohapatra said the woman and her husband Chittaranjan Munda called for 102 and 108 ambulances in vain and were forced travel in the rickety ambulance of the Bangiriposi community health centre that stopped after travelling 15 km.

“The ambulance ran out of fuel after the fuel pipe burst draining all the oil. An Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) worker Suchitra Dutt, who accompanied the woman, called another ambulance, but it arrived after an hour. By then the woman had died,” said the CDMO.

The woman’s husband however held the hospital authorities responsible for his wife’s death accusing them of failing to provide a good ambulance. Mayurbhanj CDMO said he would conduct a probe into the incident.