A pregnant woman in a remote Telangana village was carried on foot in a makeshift stretcher to the nearest hospital due to lack of roads in the region.
New Delhi: In a heart-rending incident, locals carried a pregnant tribal woman in a remote village of Bhadradri-Kothagudem district in Telangana in a makeshift stretcher or ‘doli’ for over 20 kilometres on foot to the nearest medical facility due to lack of roads.
A video of the incident which has gone viral on social media platforms shows the villagers carrying the pregnant woman in a ‘doli’ which is mounted on their shoulders, through a muddy terrain amid rainfall. The villagers are also seen traversing areas filled with rainwater as they carry the woman inside the makeshift stretcher to the Satyanarayanapuram Primary Health Centre, located nearly 20 km from their village.
4TV UPDATES **Tribals carrying a pregnant woman to a hospital, as there is no road connectivity in Charla mandal in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district pic.twitter.com/VkDG3r2feC
— Shakeel Yasar Ullah (@yasarullah) September 6, 2023
According to local media reports, the incident took place in Korkatpadu village in Bodhanilli gram panchayat of the Telangana district when the pregnant woman, identified as 22-year-old Marakkam Kosi, started complaining of labour pain, prompting her family members and other villagers to carry her on foot to the nearest primary health centre in a ‘doli’ or makeshift stretcher made out of a piece of cloth and two bamboo logs.
As per locals, this is not the first instance where a pregnant woman from the village had be carried in a ‘doli’ to the nearest hospital. They claimed that around 25 tribal villages in the region, which is near the Chhattisgarh border, lack road connectivity.
The Korkatpadu hamlet is home to around 40 tribal families with a total population of 200 people.
Giving details, a senior health official said that Kosi was 36 weeks pregnant and her blood pressure had risen to critical levels due to the arduous journey.
“It was a high-risk case of pregnancy-induced hypertension preeclampsia. She was conscious but had pains and irritability. After monitoring her condition for a couple of hours, she underwent an emergency C-section surgery by 9.30 pm. She delivered a healthy boy of 2.6 kg. She is under observation and is stable now, thanks to the timely intervention,” Indian Express quoted Superintendent of Bhadrachalam Area Hospital M Ramakrishna as saying.