Gujarat: Baby born in ambulance as lions block road

RAJKOT: Though this may read like a rip-off from a jungle folklore, but strange things did happen in Gir Somnath forests on Wednesday night.
Picture this: A 108 emergency services ambulance carrying a woman screaming with labour pain is on way to the hospital, finding its way with just headlights on the narrow kaccha village road. But six km short of the hospital, the driver abruptly halts the vehicle seeing four adult lions squatted right in the middle of the road around 10:30pm.And the lions seemed in no hurry to move at all.

“The situation was tricky. We needed to reach the hospital, but couldn’t start till the lions moved away. I hail from this area and I know their behaviour. There was fear all around. I knew I will have to perform the delivery inside the ambulance, but for the first time I was shivering,” said Jagdish Makwana, the 108 emergency medical technician (EMT).
The ambulance carrying Afsana Rafique, 30, from Bhakha village of Gir-Gadhda taluka and had travelled 12 km of the 18 km to the hospital in half an hour, till it met the lions near Rasulpur Patia. “I received the call from Makwana at around 10.30pm. I told them not to move till the lions clear the way and perform the delivery as per the telephonic advise of the doctor,” said Yuvrajsinh Zala, executive of GVK GMRI Gir-Somnath district
Besides the woman, the ambulance carrried ASHA worker Rasila Makwana and Afsana’s mother to the community health centre (CHC) at Gir-Gadhda. We didn’t inform the mother about the lions on the road, lest she gets a shock,” said Makwana.
Soon it was work as usual and unmindful of the lions roaring outside, the ambulance staff, along with the ASHA worker, helped Afsana deliver a healthy baby girl in the midst of jungle. All fears dissipated in the stilly night air when the ambulance was filled with the lusty cries of the newborn.
According to team, the baby girl weighed nearly 3kg. “It was joyful movement for all of us when the baby started crying and our fear suddenly disappeared.
Interestingly, the lions left after 20-25 minutes and the ambulance could restart its onward journey, with the majority of the work being accomplished in the midst of eerily dark jungle.
Both mother and daughter are doing fine at the Gir Gadhda CHC and they will be discharged soon.