Palghar: A 25-year-old pregnant woman has died due to alleged delay in the arrival of ambulance. She was suffering from labour pains in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, officials said Sunday. The incident took place November 19 and the pregnant woman was a ‘high risk’ category patient. She was underweight and had low blood pressure, officials added.
When contacted, Palghar District Medical Officer Dr Dayanand Suryawanshi confirmed the delay in deputing an ambulance. He said one vehicle of a local public health centre (PHC) was on COVID-19 duty. Another one had broken down.
Manisha Dhore was seven months pregnant. She started having labour pains at her home in Amle village of Khodala area in Mokhada taluka. Her family members then called for an ambulance. However, as there was a delay in the arrival of the ambulance, some locals carried her in a ‘dholi’ (makeshift cloth stretcher) to the nearest main road.
The ambulance arrived at the main road after over two hours. Dhore was rushed to the PHC in Khodala. But, her condition became critical and she was shifted to the civil hospital in neighbouring Nashik district, the official said.
Doctors at the Nashik Civil Hospital performed a Cesarean surgery on the night of November 18, but the baby could not be saved. The woman, who was administered blood, also died the next morning, Dr Suryawanshi said.
Admitting there a was delay in the ambulance service, the doctor said the ambulance of the Khodala PHC was on COVID-19 duty in neighbouring Vikramgad taluka. The emergency vehicle assigned for the Mokhada PHC had broken down. The official said he conducted a probe into the matter and informed that the victim had a bad obstetric history. She earlier had one abortion and another case of stillborn child, and doctors had advised her against conceiving as it could pose a risk to her life, he said.