Owing to the lack of motorable road, a 27-year-old woman in her last stage of pregnancy had to be carried on a makeshift stretcher for 7.221 km from her remote Kurumba tribal hamlet at Idavani in Eastern Attappady on Tuesday morning for medical care.
In the tedious trek, her relatives had to cross Varagar, a mighty tributary of the Bhavani river, which was in spate because of incessant rain. Screaming in acute pain, Mani was first taken to the Arulikonam junction to where the staff of the government primary health centre at Pudur had promised to send an ambulance. The woman and her relatives waited for about three hours in vain and then continued their journey to the Government Tribal Speciality Hospital at Kottathara by a jeep hired by officials of National Rural Livelihood Mission. Within ten minutes after being admitted to the hospital, the woman gave birth to a baby girl.
The incident triggered hot debates on Wednesday after residents of the settlement released images of their ordeal. According to health officials, the ambulance could not reach the hamlet because of the poor condition of the forest road and the increasing water level in Varagar. A dispute between the Health Department and the grama panchayat over payment of vehicle insurance had also contributed to the situation.
Cut-off by river
Encircled by dense forests and cut off from the rest of the world by Varagar, Idavani is the remotest among the 183 tribal settlements of Attappady.
“Residents make bamboo hammocks to take the sick to Pudur, traversing treacherous foothills. Idavani is one of the 19 hamlets of the Kurumbas where even electricity continues to be a mirage,” says Mani’s husband Panali, a daily-wage labourer.
“I was wreathing in pain during the entire journey and the long wait for the ambulance. There would have been a lot of complications if I had delivered the baby on the road. It was providential escape,” Mani said. Doctors said the condition of the woman and child is stable.
Incidentally, the road to Idavani secured official clearance under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) about six months ago.