Andhra Pradesh: A pregnant woman was carried 10km on a cot so she could be taken to a hospital.
In the absence of a road, people in a remote village of Andhra Pradesh carried a pregnant woman on a cot for 10 kilometres to the neighbouring village from where they took an autorickshaw to take her to a community health centre. Villagers said there no ambulance either.
Disturbing visuals from the video, which has been shared widely on the internet, show several men and woman from Pallapu Dungada village of Vizianagaram district - some 70 km away from Vishakhapatnam - carry Kasturi Devudamma down a rough stretch with a woman appealing to Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy for a road.
"Jaganna (Jaganmohan Reddy) please do something for us," a woman cried as she helped others carry the cot.
According to a senior health official, Kasturi Devudamma delivered a child at the government hospital at Srungavarapu Kota. The mother and child, both, are safe, she said.
"Having road connectivity would really help improve the reach of healthcare facilities in remote tribal villages. There can be more institutional deliveries, reducing maternal and infant mortality rates," the official told NDTV.
The subject of road development in Andhra Pradesh's tribal areas comes under the purview of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency and the Roads and Building Department.
The incident comes two weeks after a similar case was reported from the Vishakhapatnam district underlining the continued lack of road connectivity in the state's remote villages.
A 21-year-old pregnant woman in Chowdupalli village had to be carried two kilometres on a makeshift stretcher to another village which has a road. From there an ambulance picked her up to take her to the Rajendrapalem Primary Health Center.
Back then as well, members of the village panchayat had rued that nothing has changed for them despite changing governments and politicians. Such cases keep happening in many villages, when will our lives change, they had said.
