Madhya Pradesh / MP woman gives birth on muddy road as ambulance couldn't enter village

Satna: A woman in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district gave birth on a muddy pathway on Sunday after an ambulance couldn’t pick her up from home due to the poor condition of the unpaved and uneven road connecting her village, her husband said. 25 year old Neelam Adiwasi and the newborn were later rushed to a hospital at Kotor Tehsil, where their condition is said to be stable.

“My wife was having labour pain on Sunday. I called Janani Express (an ambulance service for pregnant women). But when the ambulance driver reached the village, he said he couldn’t drive inside the village due to the poor condition of the road. We were left with no option but to cover around 2km by foot on the muddy road,” Neelam’s husband Pankaj Adivasi, a resident of Bihradongri village in Satna district, said.

“Neelam couldn’t hold the baby in her womb [during the walk] and gave birth on the road,” Pankaj added.

Pankaj said while he was fortunate that both his wife and child were saved, he felt his family was treated very badly by the “corrupt system” that he said was “apathetic” to common man’s woes. “In every rainy season we face this problem as the road becomes muddy and unmotorable. Many times, we have staged protests demanding a pucca (tarred) road, but nothing has happened,” he said.

Block medical officer Dr Sarvesh Singh said the ambulance driver didn’t go inside the village after realising that there was a 100% chance of the vehicle getting stuck in the muddy road. “But after the delivery on the road, the ambulance driver and attendant safely brought the woman and her baby to the hospital. Now, they are absolutely fine.”

Satna district collector Ajay Katesaria has ordered an inquiry in the matter.