PHULBANI: In absence of motorable road for ambulance service, a 25-year-old pregnant woman was carried on a makeshift stretcher for around six km to the hospital in Kandhamal district on Sunday. A resident of Dumberigata village in Phiringia block, Bhumita Mallick complained of labour pain on Saturday night.
In the morning, her relatives arranged a handmade stretcher and carries her through the hilly terrain to Luisingh village from where there is a road to Gochapada primary health centre (PHC). However, Mallick delivered a baby boy on the way.
The woman and her newborn were later taken to the PHC in an auto-rickshaw. The health facility is situated around 20 km from Luisingha village. Both the mother and the newborn are fine.Sources said around 15 families reside in Dumberigata village.
Situated along Bagh river, there is neither an anganwadi centre nor a school in the village. During rainy season, the village remains cut off from the mainland. Salaguda sarpanch Rohit Kanhor said he had requested the block development officer of Phiringia to construct a motorable road to the village and a bridge over Bagh river.