In yet another demonstrable indictment of the State’s health services, a pregnant woman suffering labour pains had to be carried slung over a bamboo pole by her husband and father-in-law to the hospital 8 km away as the ambulance service did not respond.
And this happened on Tuesday, the International Women’s Day.
Jamuna, wife of Patra Majhi of Bisinger village in Bhawanipatna block of Kalahandi district, began having labour pains. Her husband got the ASHA worker Golapi for help residing in nearby village 4 km away.
When the ASHA worker called the persons in charge of 102 and 108 Ambulances for taking Jamuna to the hospital, they did not pick up the phone.
Finally, after Jamuna’s condition started deteriorating, her husband and father-in-law were forced to carry her on a bamboo pole to the hospital.