A man carried his sick pregnant wife almost 40 km on his back, then hitched a ride, but baby could not be saved - report
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A man in southern India was forced to carry his ailing seven-month pregnant wife on his back from their tribal home in a forest to the nearest hospital almost 40 km away, only to lose their unborn child, the Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
The couple, from a tribal community in the Indian state of Kerala, reportedly had to walk by foot for an entire day before they came across a passing vehicle whose driver agreed to take them to the nearest hospital.
The woman arrived at the hospital with oedema and high blood pressure, and was having convulsions, said Kunjamma Roy, head of the gynaecology department at Kottayam Medical College where the woman had been taken.
“The woman's life could be saved, but the baby could not be saved. We induced labour for delivery of the dead foetus," Roy said.
Despite a slew of "pro-poor" policies, India's economic boom has largely bypassed India's tribal populations, who make up more than 8 percent of its 1.2 billion population.
Many live in remote villages, eking out a living from farming, cattle rearing and selling fruit and plants from the forests. Social indicators such as literacy, child malnutrition and maternal and infant mortality in these communities are among the worst in the country.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says 63,000 women die annually during childbirth due to a lack of reproductive health services.
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