KRISHNAGIRI: A medical team and the 108 ambulance crew have jointly saved the life of a bleeding poor pregnant woman in Krishnagiri district, demonstrating that government-run hospitals have not lost the public trust for all the criticisms against them.
It was a very risky journey for the team to travel in the night from Anchetti government health facility to reach the uphill Kodakarai village, covering a distance of 55-km on the ghat section road, having elephant movement at many places.
The medical officer, P. Ashok Kumar, and his village health nurse (VHN) Ranjitham could not avoid or postpone the trip for the next day as the life of the pregnant woman and her baby were in trouble.
“It was a very risky journey for them to travel during midnight on the road that passes through the forest to reach our village. Fortunately, the team was not waylaid by the wild elephants that stayed at places en route to Kodakarai” Chinnaraj told DC.
M. Chinnaraj (30) belongs to Irula community of Kodakarai village that lacks in basic infrastructure, including transport and the husband of 25-years-old Madhamma. They have a girl child. Madhamma became pregnant for the second time and was in her third trimester.
On Wednesday night, an unknown caller told the VHN that the Madhamma had fainted after heavy bleeding. The worried VHN and her medical officer rushed to Kodakarai in a private vehicle by giving information to the Unnichetti primary health center, from where the ambulance reached Madhamma's place.
The 108 vehicle driven by M. Sivakumar and accompanied by the medical technician C. Vadivelu transported the pregnant woman to Unnichetti PHC. Their return journey from Kodakarai to Unnichetti was too risky because the driver has to navigate without using headlights at places with regular jumbo movement.
“Another trouble encountered by them was during our return journey, my wife who was in a very critical condition. The 108 ambulance driver has to navigate the vehicle in the dark without using headlights, a common practice of drivers to avoid from being attacked by the wild elephants and not to disturb them,” Chinnaraj explained the risk taken by the ambulance crew and the medical staff working here in remote hill villages.
“Any mistake by him might have caused a fatal accident but he drove carefully and also maintained the speed of the vehicle to reach Unnichetti hospital without wasting time,” Chinnaraj said while thanking the ambulance crew.
The doctors team in Unnichetti examined Mathamma and found her as the victim of 'placenta previa', a case in which placenta lies low in the uterus and covering (partially or fully) the cervix leading to death for both the infant and its mother if medical treatment was not given in time.
As the facility was not available in Unnichetti, the pregnant mother was shifted to Dharmapuri government medical college and hospital' in Dharmapuri, where the experts performed c-section surgery and saved both the mother and her male infant.
