JAJPUR: A woman of flood-hit Bari block had to be carried in a cooking tope to the hospital after she was bitten by a snake on Tuesday.
Residents of Ratnagiri Routasahi village took 45-year-old Manjulata Das to the nearby Gopalpur primary health centre (PHC) in the large-sized utensil. They had to cover a distance of three km by wading through chest-deep water to get medical help, Manjulata’s family said.
The entire block has been submerged due to flash floods in Brahmani and Kharasrota rivers. Due to the deluge, all communication to Routasahi has been snapped, stranding the villagers in their respective houses since the last few days.
Sources said that a poisonous snake bit the woman when she was in her house in the morning. Though villagers dialled the emergency helpline number, the service could not be availed as the locality was water-logged due to the floods.
"All our efforts to contact the local health workers went in vain. Finding no other option, we carried Manjulata in a big tope to the hospital wading through the flooded roads to save her life," said Harekrushna Rout, a villager.
The doctor at Gopalpur PHC provided first-aid treatment to Manjulata who was later shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after her condition deteriorated.