A 21-day-old baby girl while was being shifted from one private hospital to the Ispat General Hospital here in an ambulance on Tuesday was left stranded for about one and a half hours near Bisra Chowk area due to a rally by the locals.
The father of the girl managed to lift the baby from there to IGH as a scooter rider came to his rescue. The girl is now battling with her life at the IGH, Rourkela, due to her exposure to open air.
Sarat Kumar Raul, who works as a Jawan in 6th battalion of CRPF at Chakradharpur, had admitted her wife at a private maternity home, since his wife was due for delivery.
On January 2, her wife had delivered two girl children and one male child. The condition of all three new born children was critical and the male child passed away.
The mother and one of the female children were shifted to IGH whereas the other girl child was sent to Aastha mother and childcare hospital for her recovery. Since Sarat's wife was at IGH with one child, he was staying at Aastha hospital to take care of the other child.
Since, the child at Aastha hospital recuperated, the doctor at Aastha hospital advised to shift her to the IGH where her mother was with another child.
"After waiting inside the ambulance for a long time and finding myself helpless, I came out with my daughter and walked down through the traffic jam to other side and then reached at the IGH, after taking a lift from a scooter rider, who was returning after seeing the traffic jam," said Sarat.
According to eyewitness, another two ambulances were also trapped inside the jam and no one came forward to help them. The baby girl after being shifted to IGH, reportedly has been battling with her life at IGH, apparently after getting exposed to open air, sources said.
“It is really a matter of concern that ambulances got trapped in jam due to rally. I will definitely try to ensure that this sort of incident does not occur in future,” said Rourkela SP Uma Shankar Das.