NABARANGPUR: Institutional delivery has become a dream for pregnant women of Nabarangpur district in the absence of proper road connectivity. A pregnant woman of Kusumakhunti village under Maidalpur panchayat in Papadahandi block had to be carried in a cot for seven kms by her family members before they could reach the nearest Primary Health Centre (PHC) for delivery on Monday.
Bimala Naik complained of labour pain early this morning. As Kusumkhunti is an inaccessible village and lacks an all weather road, her husband Tankadhar and other family members carried her on a cot and walked for five hours through the damaged kutcha road to reach the Anganwadi centre at Kanatasaru village. After reaching there, they called up the 102 ambulance service.
After a delay of few hours, the ambulance arrived and took the woman to Maidalpur PHC at 2 pm. She delivered a baby boy but as condition of the newborn was critical, doctors asked Tankadhar to shift both mother and son to District Headquarters Hospital (DHH). Doctors at the DHH, however, declared the newborn brought dead.The district has 375 villages which do not have all-weather roads.