VIZIANAGARAM: A woman gave birth to a baby girl in a cashew plantation while being shifted to a hospital in a doli (makeshift stretcher) from her village, which has been cut off after Cyclone Gulab. Sources said Nandhyala Kasulamma (20) of Malleduvalasa village in Mentada mandal of Vizianagaram agency developed labour pain around 6 am. The village has been marooned after a flooded Champavathi river washed away a part of the Malladuvalasa-Mentada Road.
A quick-thinking ASHA worker, Laxmi, along with a village volunteer Somulu, decided to shift the heavily pregnant woman in a doli for 11 km to Gollupalem, the nearest motorable road. Kasulamma’s husband N Sanyasirao and her mother Pydamma accompanied them. They started walking at 7 am. Meanwhile, Laxmi had arranged a 108 ambulance, which waited at Gollupalem road to rush Kasulamma to the Gajapathinagaram hospital.
As the group carrying Kasulamma covered half the distance, she went into labour around 9.15 am. They stopped in a cashew plantation, and with the assistance of Laxmi and Pydamma, she delivered a baby girl. The group again proceeded carrying the mother and infant to the road, where the ambulance shifted them to the hospital.
“Our village doesn’t have proper road connectivity. The recent rains washed away the kucha road. We have been facing several hurdles in receiving medical care during the rainy season. We have made several representations to officials and politicians in vain, Sanyasirao later told TNIE.