ALMORA: A pregnant woman, in her early twenties, was carried overnight on a doli (makeshift palanquin) on an unpaved road that goes through a dense forest, as her labour pains started around midnight. After covering a treacherous 17-km route on foot, the group finally reached a primary health centre at 5:30 am where the baby, a girl, was born around 7:30 am.
The incident has again highlighted how lack of proper roads in the hills is impacting the lives of villagers. Thikalna village in Almora is at least 6 km away from the nearest motorable road and during monsoons, vehicles often refuse to take unpaved routes here for fear of accidents.
According to villagers, a stretch connecting the village to the motorable road had been built using MLALAD funds and donations from villagers. However, it was never covered with asphalt. So, every monsoon season, it becomes unusable for vehicles. Leela Joshi's family also faced the predicament of how to take her to a health facility when she developed labour pains around 11.30 pm on Tuesday. Her mother-in-law and four other family members put her on a palanquin and set out for the Panuwanaula primary health centre. They had been unable to get an ambulance or any other vehicle to come to their home and as Joshi's condition deteriorated, they realised they couldn't wait till morning.
The group knew rain could start at any moment or a wild animal could attack, but went ahead anyway. Village head Rajender Singh told TOI, "As the 6-km road was never paved, it becomes practically useless every monsoon. Anyone who develops a health emergency has to be carried on a doli to the nearest health centre. In Joshi's case, as it was midnight, they had to walk all the way to the health centre."
There have been many prior instances of this kind in the past. In Patalchaura village of Almora, a 21-year-old woman had been forced to give birth in a bare field at night amid rain in January this year. In December 2020, the Nainital district administration had announced a palanquin service to carry pregnant women to health facilities, after several women in remote villages of the district died when ambulances failed to show up on time.
