To reach home, one has to walk through the middle of the field. By the time Draupadi was taken to the cot by the ambulance, she died.
The healthcare system in Odisha’s tribal-dominated Sundargarh district is under question. This has happened after the death of a 30-year-old woman recently in Birmitrapur Municipality, hours after giving birth to a child at home.
There was no ASHA worker to help the woman, and neither did the ambulance reach her home on time.
The incident is at Patratoli of Talsara area under Ward 11 of Birmitrapur Municipality late Tuesday afternoon.
Family members told that Draupadi Manjhi gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Tuesday morning but after a few hours her own condition started deteriorating. Draupadi’s sister-in-law Saraswati said that she called an ambulance but it could not reach her house directly, as the distance from her house to the road is more than 200 meters.
To reach home, one has to walk through the middle of the field. By the time Draupadi was taken to the cot by the ambulance, she died.
The Birmitrapur Community Health Center is about three kilometers from Draupadi’s house. According to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, it is the responsibility of the concerned ASHA workers to regularly monitor the health of pregnant women and also ensure institutional deliveries.
In Draupadi’s case, there was no health worker to help with her delivery.
Incidentally, since September 2020, the administration is spending a huge amount for antenatal care from the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) under the Swatantra Matrijyoti Yojana. Under this initiative, ASHA or Anganwadi workers of the respective areas escort pregnant mothers for ultra-sound and regular check-ups so that pregnancy related complications can be detected early and necessary treatment can be done.
Chief District Medical Officer Dr SK Mishra termed the incident as unfortunate and said, “I have sought a report to find out what went wrong and what needs to be improved to strengthen the health system and institutional deliveries.”