RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: The lack of proper road connectivity in remote tribal villages continues to endanger the lives of pregnant women, forcing families and emergency responders to carry expectant mothers on cots for kilometers to access medical care.
In the Agency (hilly and tribal) areas, pregnant women are often carried on a doli or cot, a makeshift stretcher made of blankets and bamboo, for several kilometres due to the severe lack of motorable roads.
Villagers are forced to trek long distances to reach the nearest accessible road.
This situation occurs mainly in remote, hilly villages of tribal areas Polavaram and other districts, where ambulances are unable to reach patients during labor.
Three days ago, Muchika Lakshmi, a full-term pregnant woman from Durbhalanka village in VR Puram mandal in Chinturu division in Polavaram district, went into labour. Her family alerted the 108 ambulance service, but the vehicle could not enter the village due to the absence of a motorable road and had to halt nearly two kilometres away.
Emergency staff, along with relatives, walked to her house and carried her on a cot back to the ambulance.
As her labour pains intensified, Lakshmi delivered a baby safely inside the vehicle. EMTs Emergency Medical Technician Naveen and Mohan, along with ASHA worker Subbalakshmi, later shifted her to Rekhapalli hospital.
Such incidents are frequent in the agency areas of the Rampachodavaram constituency. In several panchayats of Vararamachandrapuram mandal - including Sriramagiri, Tummileru, Jeediguppa, Kunduluru, Peddamattapalli and Chinnamattapalli - many tribal hamlets remain cut off without proper roads. Vehicles must be parked kilometres away, with residents forced to walk through forests or travel by boat across the Godavari to reach some habitations.
In parts of Tummileru panchayat, there are not even footpaths.
Health officials say poor connectivity, early marriages and malnutrition have contributed to maternal and infant health risks.
In In the past two months, two infants were found abandoned in bushes within the Chintoor area hospital limits, highlighting systemic gaps.
Chintoor Additional DMHO Pullayya speaking to TNIE stressed the need for better monitoring by ASHA workers and ANMs, improved public awareness and urgent road development to prevent such hardships and ensure safe institutional deliveries.
The DMHO further stated that once every one or two months, they receive calls informing them that a pregnant woman is being brought on a cot and requires immediate medical attention.