Pregnant Woman Carried To Hospital In Makeshift Cloth Stretcher

A pregnant tribal woman was carried to a hospital in a makeshift cloth stretcher in Kerala. According to locals, the only way to reach the hospital was a hanging bamboo bridge across river Bhawani, however, their pleas for a bridge remained unheard.

The visuals of the pregnant woman being carried on a cloth sling over three kilometres had led to a probe. The incident took place in the Palakkad district in Kerala.

The woman, Sumanthi Murukan was carried to the hospital as there was no transportation available due to the lack of a bridge. Her relatives and locals carried her using a sling made of a bed sheet at night. A group of eight carried her on their shoulders.

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Pregnant Woman Carried To Hospital

One of her relatives who helped carry her said, “we made a sling using bamboo and bed sheets, carried her though forests with the help of torch light around 12:30 am.”

The relative added that heavy downpours added to the hardship they faced during the journey.

The Puthoor panchayar president Jyoti Anil Kumar said, “She belongs to Kurumba tribe. Usually, they refuse to come out of their settlements and medical team often visits them in their dwellings”.

The tribal affairs minister K Radhakrishnan said he sought a report from concerned officials.

Reportedly, the pregnant woman Murukan was consulting doctors at the Kottathara Tribal Speciality Hospital and her deliver was scheduled for the next week. However, Murukan went into labour on Saturday night and she was carried for three kilometres until they reached the main road.

From there, Murukan was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Fortunately, she reached the hospital safely and delivered a baby boy after she reached the hospital.

Attempts to arrange an ambulance to take Murukan to the hospital failed and an ambulance for the tribal speciality hospital in Kottathara responded to the calls of the locals. However, due to poor road connectivity the ambulance could only reach up to Aanavaayi.

The locals carried Murukan in the cloth stretcher to Aanavaayi, crossing three kilometers and a hanging bridge across the Bhavani river.

A junior public health nurse, Priya Joy was waiting with the medical staff and the ambulance that took Murukan to the hospital. They reached the hospital around 6:35 am and Murukan’s child was born at 6:51 am.