Mother, Newborn Killed After Ambulance Breakdown In Odisha

Baripada: A woman and her newborn child died after the ambulance van carrying them to a hospital in Baripada in Mayurbhanj district broke down on Friday night.

Sources said the woman, Tulasi Munda, was admitted to the community health centre (CHC) at Bangiriposi with labour pain on Friday evening. She later gave birth to a boy.

But as her condition deteriorated, the doctors at the CHC referred her to the district headquarters hospital in Baripada. She and the newborn were taken in a 108 ambulance van to Baripada. The woman’s husband, Chittaranjan Munda, accompanied them.

On the way, the ambulance van broke down near Kuliana. As a result, the woman, her newborn child and husband had to wait on the roadside for another ambulance for more than an hour.

Following information by an ASHA worker who had accompanied the woman and the newborn, another ambulance van arrived at the spot and took them to the district headquarters hospital. But the woman and her child had succumbed by then,

The chief district medical officer (CDMO), Mayurbhanj said the oil pipe of the ambulance was ruptured.

Admitting that the woman and her newborn died on the way to hospital, the CDMO said he will probe into the matter.

The post-mortem of the woman and her newborn child will be conducted at the district headquarters hospital on Saturday.