Hours before delivery pregnant woman carried in a doli for 3 km in Vizianagaram

VISAKHAPATNAM: A pregnant woman close to delivery time had to be carried on a makeshift stretcher (in local parlance doli) for a distance of three kilometres to get a vehicle to reach the hospital. The vehicle point was over three kms from her residence at Maryapadu tribal hamlet under Salur mandal in Vizianagaram district.

The incident took place on Saturday drawing criticism from several health activists in the district. The pregnant woman Pottangi Parvathi finally got the vehicle to reach the Primary Health Centre at Baguvalasa. Not only four-wheelers but even two-wheelers could not reach her village due to the hilly terrain.

Parvathi developed labour pains in the wee hours on Saturday and was carried in a sling to reach Tadilova village. She gave birth to a boy a few hours later. Both the mother and son are said to be safe at the PHC.

“It is a regular phenomenon in north coastal Andhra,’’ activists said.

As there were no rains for a few days, the locals managed to shift the pregnant woman, otherwise, they would have faced problems as the roads would have been slippery, they added.