Ambulance Delay Forces Woman to Deliver Baby on Rickshaw-Trolley in Paradip

BHUBANESWAR: A woman delivered a baby on a rickshaw-trolley after an ambulance reportedly failed to reach her home on time at Sandhakuda in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, nearly 100 km from here.

As per reports, the woman developed labour pain on Monday morning. Though an ambulance was called, it made an inordinate delay in reaching her home. With her labour pain getting worse every minute, she decided to go to the hospital in a rickshaw trolley. However, she delivered a baby girl on the way to the hospital in the trolley near Nuabazaar.

The rickshaw puller and some local women from the market assisted in the delivery on the road.

Ambulance driver Hema Singh said, “The woman had walked some way early in the morning. She was sitting near the lighthouse when I was passing by the road. She called for help and I took her to the hospital. But she delivered on the way itself.”

“I had called the 108 ambulance but it arrived late. I will never ever forget the trolley rider who loaded me and my wife on it and took us to Nuabazaar. He even helped my wife deliver our baby too,” said the husband of the woman, Sarafat Khan.

Later, an ambulance from Paradip Port hospital reached the spot and took both the baby and mother to Atharbanki hospital for treatment. Both of them are stated to be healthy.

Asked about the health condition of the mother and the baby, Dr Debabrata Sahu of Atharbanki community health centre said, “Their health condition is stable. She should not have waited for the last minute to come to the hospital. Instead, she should have got herself admitted the minute she felt even a little bit of pain. However, everything is fine now.”