Gujarat confidential: The Uneasy Road

With multiple instances coming to light of heavily pregnant women being carried in cloth stretchers from remote villages of Chhota Udepur district to reach the ambulances at nearest point of connectivity, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel recently sought a detailed report from officials of the District Health department pertaining to one such incident in June this year. As part of the process to gather the information, a few officials of the district health department visited Khenda village of Naswadi taluka earlier this week to meet the family of the pregnant woman involved in the case. The officers were in for some first-hand experience of the difficulty faced by the villagers as they had to walk a stretch of about three kilometers through a dusty winding road after leaving their vehicles at the roadside where the unmotorable path turned towards the village. However, despite the tiring trek, the officials did not find the woman in her house. They collected details from the villagers instead, local residents said.