A 26-year-old pregnant woman from Palghar district in Maharashtra passed away on Wednesday while being transported to the hospital in an ambulance that lacked oxygen and other essential facilities.
Dr Ramdas Marad, Palghar's civil surgeon, said the health department had raised issues with authorities multiple times regarding the lack of specialised ambulances in the region.
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Pingi Dongarkar, a resident of Sarni village, went into labour and was brought to the rural hospital in a critical state on Tuesday evening.
"If she had come earlier, we could have saved her," a health official said.
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Palghar BJP MP Dr Hemant Savara stated that the health department should take appropriate action and ensure that ambulance services are equipped with the necessary facilities.
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Dongarkar's family immediately rushed her to the Kasa rural hospital, but due to her dire condition, the staff referred her to the neighbouring Silvassa city (in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu) for further medical attention.
{{/usCountry}}Dongarkar's family immediately rushed her to the Kasa rural hospital, but due to her dire condition, the staff referred her to the neighbouring Silvassa city (in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu) for further medical attention.
{{/usCountry}}Despite desperate efforts by her family to arrange an ambulance equipped with oxygen and necessary medical facilities through the '108' emergency service, their requests were not responded to, according to a health official.
Eventually, they had to take a regular ambulance and en route to Silvassa; Dongarkar succumbed to complications. The foetus did not survive as well.
According to Dr Marad, Dongarkar suffered from a condition called Intrauterine Fetal Death (IUFD), where the foetus dies in the womb.
The exact time of the foetal death could not be determined.
When she first arrived at Kasa Rural Hospital, she was semi-conscious and showed signs of severe infection.
Dr Marad stated that due to high demand, the emergency ambulance may have been unavailable.
On issues with the 108 emergency ambulance services, which are privately operated, Dr Marad said the ambulance might have been unavailable due to high demand.
CPI(M) leader Vinod Nikole said he had raised the issue in the House during his last term, but no action was taken.
He also criticised the government over its"indifference" towards improving healthcare facilities, particularly in tribal areas, and accused the state of prioritising other programmes, such as the Ladki Bahin Yojana, over the urgent needs of healthcare in rural regions.
With inputs from PTI