VELLORE: A tribal woman died a few hours after delivering a stillborn baby at her home at Elandhampudhur, a hamlet in Jarthankollai panchayat located atop a hill in Vellore, after an ambulance sent to take her to a hospital got stuck in slush in the mountainous terrain.
"After delivering the stillborn baby, the family was trying to rush K Kanchana, 20, to the nearest Primary Health Centre in Peenchamanthai, located five km away. The kutcha road to the village turned completely muddy and unmotorable due to the recent showers," villagers said.
"She could have been saved if authorities had acted on our long-pending demand for a proper road to our hamlet," Srinivasan, a resident of the panchayat, told The New Indian Express.
"After receiving information about Kanchana's health, our ASHA worker informed the Village Health Nurse (VHN). On the way to the village, the ambulance wheel got stuck in mud due to rain," official sources said.
"Kanchana was 24-week pregnant. It is a suspicious death case because there could have been an attempt to abort the foetus. The cause of death, however, can be conclusively established only after getting the postmortem report," Banumathi, Deputy Director of Health Service (DDHS), told The New Indian Express.
District Collector P Kumaravel Pandian ordered an Revenue Divisional Officer inquiry as the woman had died within seven years of her marriage. "We were keeping track of Kanchana's health during her pregnancy and our Mobile Medical Unit last monitored her on July 13," the DDHS said.
'Rs 5 crore allotted three years ago to lay road'
Meanwhile, the tribals demanded the district administration to take immediate steps to lay a road to all three tribal panchayats, Jarthankollai, Peenchamanthai, and Palampattu, to save lives.
According to sources, around Rs 5 crore was allocated for laying a road to the panchayat about three years ago but the project is yet to be implemented.On July 14, another speeding biker M Anandakumar (51) of Town Hall fell from the bridge after hitting on parapet wall.