An expectant mother staying in a Covid-19 containment zone in one of the hotspots in Odisha, was transported in a trolley for a couple of kilometres by her family on Wednesday. This happened because several ambulance drivers reportedly refused to enter the village over fear of contracting infection.
According to Harekrushna Ojha, a resident of Bainsiria village of Bari block in Jajpur district, hos wife went into labour on Wednesday morning. He called the 108 helpline that manages the Odisha emergency ambulance system to take her to the nearest community health centre 15 km away for delivery. But as soon as the ambulance drivers were told about the village, they refused to pick up the expectant mother, said Ojha.
“Soon after my wife complained of labour pains, my younger brother called up 108 helpline for sending an ambulance. But each time, the drivers straightaway refused saying they would enter a Covid-19 village as couple of positive cases were reported from here last month. For over an hour and half not a single ambulance was ready to come,” said Ojha, who sought the help of the sarpanch. However, he too pleaded helplessness in the matter.
Finding no other way, Ojha put his wife Kanaklata on a wooden trolley to an ambulance which was waiting about two kilometres away. Ojha’s mother was holding the woman while his brother pulled the trolley.
ASHA worker Rina, who had come to assist the pregnant woman, then tried one last time, but the ambulance driver did not enter the village.
“We could not lose any time as a woman delivers maximum within an hour of onset of labour. It was risky taking a pregnant woman on a trolley, but we had no other way. The situation was really desparate,” said Rina.
District collector Ranjan Das did not comment on the incident. Jajpur has now turned out to be a Covid-19 hotspot in Odisha with 55 positive cases, the highest in the state, followed by Khurda district with 47 cases.
On Monday, the fears over Covid-19 had forced a family in Balasore district to bury the head of their family after villagers refused to help them in cremation suspecting that the man had died of the coronavirus disease. Last month, a 60-year-old cancer patient in coastal Odisha town of Balasore had to spend over eight hours outside his rented home after the landlord refused to let him and his family enter the house as he had gone to a hospital in Bhubaneswar, a Covid-19 hotspot.
