Woman gives birth at home, carried to ambulance in doli in A.P.’s ASR district

Tribal woman gives birth at home due to lack of road access, highlighting need for infrastructure in ASR district.

A tribal woman gave birth to her baby at her home in ASR district on the morning of New Year’s Day.

The woman, a resident of Gaddibandha village in Pinakota panchayat of Anantagiri mandal in ASR district, went into labour in the early hours of Wednesday, following which an ambulance was called. However, it could only come up till a stream 2 km away from the hamlet and had to wait there due to lack of a motorable road.

The young mother had to be carried in a doli for 2 km, crossing the stream on foot. Another woman carried the newborn baby, wrapped in a cloth, in her arms. The mother and newborn were shifted to the Pinakota Primary Health Centre (PHC) in the waiting ambulance.

A kutcha road was laid by the tribals in 2020 following which the government had sanctioned ₹20 crore for construction of a road and construction of culverts across the stream. Gravel was laid and the culverts were constructed. However, the culverts were washed away following heavy rains subsequently, says CPI(M) district secretariat member K. Govinda Rao.

“The State government issues statements that there should be no more doli yatras in the tribal areas. But, there seems to be no solution in sight,” he says demanding early action on construction of BT roads and saving the tribal people of the hassles during emergencies.