Relatives carry TN woman in cloth cradle for delivery

As incessant rains cut off the Bargur Hills area from rest of the Erode district, 23-year-old Kumari, a pregnant woman, developed labour pain. Numerous efforts to ensure that an ambulance reaches the remote hamlet ended in failure due to the extremely bad condition of the approach road to the village that was further damaged due to the rains.

With no other option left, the villagers made a cradle out of bamboo sticks and cloth and carried her for nearly six kilometres to reach the main road where they shifted her to a waiting ambulance. Their strenuous efforts did not go waste – the woman delivered a baby boy inside the ambulance and both are now at the nearby Primary Health Centre (PHC).

A video shot by the relatives of the woman being carried on a bamboo cradle for her delivery has now gone viral on social media.

The incident took place on Monday in Sandaipur village in Bargur Hills area in Erode district. The village was marooned due to torrential rain that had been lashing several parts of Tamil Nadu since last week.

Kumari’s husband, P Madesh, said his wife developed labour pain on Monday evening and there was no way that an ambulance can come inside their already marooned village. “Numerous efforts to reach the ambulance failed as the road was cut-off. It was my relatives who suggested that we make a bamboo cradle with a cloth to carry my wife to the main road where she can be shifted to an ambulance,” Madesh said.

After the exhausting two-hour journey covering six long kilometres, those carrying the cradle reached the main road and shifted Rani to an ambulance.

Even as the ambulance drove fast on its way to the nearby primary health centre, Rain delivered a baby boy thanks to her mother-in-law Sanniammal who attended to her. After the delivery, the mother and the newborn were taken to the PHC from where they were shifted to Andhiyur government hospital.