Man pedals pregnant daughter 6 km to hospital

A tribal man, in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, was on Sunday evening forced to take his pregnant daughter to hospital on his bicycle as no ambulances were available.

Nanhebhai (46), a resident of Shahpur village under Buxwah block in Chhattarpur district, put his daughter, Parvati (22), on the carrier of his bicycle and pedaled six km to reach the nearest government hospital when his repeated calls to the call centre set up by the state government to avail service of “Janani Express” (emergency transport service provided by Madhya Pradesh government to rural patients under a welfare scheme), “received no response”.

Parvati gave birth to a baby boy in the hospital. Shockingly, he was forced to carry the mother and her newborn on his bicycle back home following the failure of the hospital authorities to make arrangement of an ambulance.

“I have sought a report from the local block medical officer on the incident,” Chhattarpur chief medical health officer V.K. Gupta said.

The incident comes barely three days after a pregnant woman in Timariha village in the same district was made to walk six km in labour pain to go to a hospital for delivery.