Ambulance stuck in flood, woman delivers under tree in Gadchiroli forest

NAGPUR: Women in eastern Vidarbha’s tribal district of Gadchiroli, considered a Maoist guerrilla base, have to face extreme hardships to become mothers. They are risking their lives even after 73 years of the country’s independence.
In the latest case, a 27-year-old tribal woman had to deliver amid rains under a tree with someone holding an umbrella in the forest.The adjoining villages and roads lost connectivity with the rest of the remote district due to the heavy floods.
The ambulance, which was supposed to ferry the woman, got stuck in the flood water around six km away. Her delivery was single-handedly managed by a contractual nurse who had to walk in the forest for around six kms. After the delivery, the team had to once again walk for several kilometres to reach the PHC with the mother and baby in hand wading through the flooded water in the thick forest.
In July, a nine-month pregnant woman had to walk 23 kms through the forested stretch and cross nullahs to give birth and had to walk back the same distance with the new born within four days of her delivery.
Bharti Dorpeti, a woman from the Madia tribe, who later gave birth to a baby girl, was saved due to the heroics of the contractual nurse Soni Durge, posted at the Gatta primary health centre’s (PHC) sub-unit, on August 12 in the forest between Gilanguda and Jharewada in the Etapalli taluka of south Gadchiroli.
A native of Jharewada village, around 10 kms away from Gatta PHC and it’s sub-centre, Bharti’s expected date of delivery was on August 28. On August 3, Durge is learnt to have visited Bharti in the village and also wanted her to come to the Gatta primary health centre (PHC) at the earliest to stay there for a week in advance under the ‘Mahergaon’ scheme through which expecting mothers are provided free accommodation, food and a daily allowance of Rs200 apart from health care facilities.
Durge, who had been working in the remote and highly sensitive Maoist stronghold of Gatta for the last six years, said the tribal women avoid coming to the PHC until they undergo labour pains. “Bharti had experienced labour pains on August 12 and informed ASHA worker Savita Alam who in turn sent her husband on his bike to alert me. As it’s raining heavily and the entire locality is flooded, I set off immediately with my delivery kit and emergency medicine mentally readying for any emergency in an ambulance,” said Durge.
There were more challenges that lay ahead. “There are two major nullahs within three kms of the PHC which tend to overflow and flood the roads and bridges. It was within one km that our ambulance got stuck in the flooded water on the bridge,” said the nurse.
The flooded area made matters worse. “ASHA worker Alam’s husband was following the ambulance on his bike. I tried to take his help to reach the village but it was flooded. We somehow managed to alert Bharti’s family and asked them to bring her as far as possible. She was ferried on a charpoy by husband Surja and others through the forest,” said Durge.
The last lap before reaching the woman was the toughest. “The bike, too, could not be used after some time. We had to walk for almost six kilometres when we spotted Bharti being brought on a charpoy. She was in pain and we had no other option but to choose a place under a tree to get the delivery done. After the delivery, we walked back with the baby and the mother for around six kms on foot before reaching the Gatta PHC where they are now doing well,” said the nurse, sounding satisfied with her efforts.