In an incident that highlights how poor healthcare in rural areas affects pregnant women, quite often putting their lives at risk, a 28-year-old woman,Premwati, delivered a baby in a horse cart in front of a community health centre (CHC) here in Meerganj area of Bareilly district on Sunday. Her family was forced to ferry her on the horse cart when she went into labour as no ambulance was available in the village. Dr Amit Kumar, in-charge at CHC Meerganj, told TOI that ASHA (accredited social health activists) workers, who would normally accompany such delivery cases to the hospital, were on strike and hence the family could not access ambulance services which would have been available after dialling 102/108 helpline. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to probe the allegations of medical negligence. Top officials from the district hospital, including chief medical officer (CMO) Vijay Yadav, rushed to the CHC to take stock of situation. "In the absence of an ambulance, we put her in a horse cart after she complained of pain at 5am. On reaching the hospital, we learned that ASHA workers were on strike, but the hospital staff was available. As there was no time to shift Premwati into the hospital, the delivery of the baby was carried out in the cart itself by the hospital staff," said Shanti, Premwati's elder sister.

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to probe the allegations of medical negligence. Top officials from the district hospital, including chief medical officer (CMO) Vijay Yadav, rushed to the CHC to take stock of situation.

"In the absence of an ambulance, we put her in a horse cart after she complained of pain at 5am. On reaching the hospital, we learned that ASHA workers were on strike, but the hospital staff was available. As there was no time to shift Premwati into the hospital, the delivery of the baby was carried out in the cart itself by the hospital staff," said Shanti, Premwati's elder sister.

"An ASHA worker normally accompanies a woman in labour for facilitating the delivery at the hospital. But on Sunday, the ASHA workers were on strike. Hence the family could not access ambulance services which would have been available by dialling 102/108. The woman was given due medical care during the delivery and both newborn and the mother are in stable condition," Dr Kumar said.

On their part, ASHA workers said the administration should not have been in such a haste to shift the entire blame on them.

"It could have been possible that the hospital didn't attend to the ambulance request by the family," said Indu Shree Gangwar, district president of ASHA workers' association. Gangwar added that ASHA workers were forced to proceed on an indefinite and suspend all activities after the administration turned a deaf ear to their long-pending demands for wage hike and regularization of their service. Presently, the health workers, whose appointments are temporary, get a monthly remuneration of Rs 3,000.