No ambulance, pregnant Kerala woman carried on stretcher for 7 kms to hospital

Palakkad: In another shocking incident highlighting the plight of healthcare facilities in the country, a pregnant woman in Kerala had to bear a 7 km ordeal on a makeshift bedsheet stretcher to reach the hospital to deliver her baby.

Due to the non-availability of ambulance, the 27-year-old woman from Palakkad's Attapadi village had to be carried on a stretcher made of a bedsheet and tied to logs, hospital sources said.

The incident has led to an outrage and sparked a debate after footage of her journey, aired by television channels, went viral on social media.

In the video footage, six family members of the pregnant woman can be seen accompanying her as she is carried on shoulders with the help of wooden logs.

The woman was taken to the government tribal hospital at Kottathara on Tuesday where she delivered a baby girl. Both mother and daughter are fine, the sources said.