A pregnant woman who was carried in a cloth cradle for five km gave birth to a male baby in a pick-up van outside the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Bargur hills here on Monday.
Kumari (24) is the wife of Madhesh (32), a daily wage earner of Sundapur tribal hamlet. The couple already has a five-year-old male child. The hamlet is located five km from the Thamaraikarai-Bargur Road and could be reached only by taking a mud road that is badly affected due to rain over the past one month.
Kumari developed labour around 8.30 a.m., but did not conclude it was so because the given due date was 22 days away. But, at 11.30 a.m. the pain was intense and Madhesh and relatives decided to shift her to the PHC. Since mobile network connectivity was very poor in their hamlet, they could not alert the 108 ambulance. Also, the non-motorable road prevented them from shifting her on a two-wheeler. They tied a cloth to a bamboo pole to made a cradle. She sat on it and Madhesh, his relatives and a few villagers carried her up to the Thamaraikarai-Bargur Road. They boarded a pick-up van to the hospital and also alerted the 108 ambulance.
Ahead of two km to reach the PHC, they saw the ambulance. Since her pain was intense, she was unable to shift to the ambulance and had to continue her journey in the pick-up van. At 12.02 p.m. the van reached the PHC and she gave birth to the male baby, weighing 2.02 kg, outside the PHC.
Deputy Director of Health Services S. Soundammal told The Hindu that the medical officer shifted the mother and the baby to the PHC and removed the placenta and administered antibiotics. “Both the mother and the baby are stable and the mother was shifted to the Government Hospital at Anthiyur on Tuesday”, she added.
V.P. Gunasekaran, State Committee Member, Tamil Nadu Tribal People Association said a motorable road had been a long-pending demand, as people were put to hardship during emergencies. He wanted priority accorded to carrying out repairs to or relaying of the roads in hill areas that were damaged in rain.
