BAJURA, SEPTEMBER 5
A woman from Bamu of Ward No 1 of Himali Rural Municipality, Bajura, gave birth to her baby on the way to Bamu Basic Health Service Centre on Friday.
Nani Rokaya, 33, gave birth to the baby while she was being taken to the health centre. The health centre is three hours walking distance from her house. Nani was compelled to give birth on the road as the health centre was far away from her house.
Most women like Nani give birth at home due to lack of parturition service in the nearby health centres. Ward Chair Jokhya Bhandari at the rural municipality said that the women gave birth to their babies in the forest, roadsides, fields and houses. Bischhayan Health Post, which provides delivery service is one day walking distance.
Similarly, Parbati Budha, 33, of the same rural municipality also gave birth to her second baby on the road while being taken to health centre. Auxiliary Mid-wife Sarita Ghising said that Budha was in labour pain and we helped her with delivery.
Fortunately, a team of health workers is there to provide health education and treatment in the village.
Kartika BK, 35, of Swomikartik Khapar Rural Municipality had a similar fate. She gave birth to the baby on the road while her relatives were taking her to health facility a month ago.
These are only a few representative cases. Many such cases go unnoticed. In-charge at Bichhayan Health Post Bimala Pandey said most of the mothers in far-flung Bajura, give birth to babies at home, work place, field and roads due to lack of health facilities.
The villages at Kot, Kotigaun, Natikhola, Ramdi, Bamu, Yuna, and Badigaun of Bichhayan are one day walking distance from the health posts. Not only women, but ALSO the locals are deprived OF basic health facilities.
A local, Jagat Bahadur Lama, said the locals had been facing problems receiving basic health service. He said they had to face many problems even after reaching the health facility. Lama added that the locals were also deprived of regular health checkup facility.
As many as eight new mothers lost their lives in three years time. Badimalika Municipality Health Department Chief Tek Bahadur Khadka said lack of regular checkup, timely delivery, lack of nutritious foods during delivery, lack of rest, and hard work were the reasons behind the untimely deaths.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 6, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
