Tribal man travels 90 km on ST bus with newborn’s body in carry bag

Mumbai: Sakharam Kavar’s voice trembled with deep anguish and helplessness as he recalled the 90-km agonising journey no parent should endure.

Denied an ambulance by Nashik Civil Hospital, the tribal man travelled on a state transport bus, carrying the body of his stillborn daughter home in a carry bag.

“I lost my child due to the negligence and apathy of the health system,” muttered Sakharam who couldn’t get an ambulance to shift his wife, who went into labour, to Khodala PHC on June 11. The 28-year-old daily wage labourer from the Katkari tribal community lives in a hut in Jogalwadi hamlet in Palghar district, around 200 km from Mumbai.

Until recently, he and his wife Avita, 26, worked at a brick kiln in Badlapur in Thane district with their two children. With their third child due soon, they returned to their village three weeks ago in hopes of a safe delivery.

But on June 11, when Avita went into labour, their ordeal began. “We called for an ambulance since morning, but no one came,” Sakharam said.

The village ASHA worker was initially unavailable. When she tried calling the emergency number 108, she reportedly received no response initially but later arranged a private vehicle to take Avita to Khodala Public Health Centre.

“There was movement in my womb on the way,” Avita said, adding that she was kept waiting for more than an hour after reaching the PHC.

She was later referred to Mokhada Rural Hospital. “They isolated me in a room. When my husband protested, they called the police, who beat him,” she alleged.

Doctors at Mokhada advised a transfer to Nashik Civil Hospital after they couldn’t record the heartbeats of the foetus. Since the ambulance was unavailable, an ambulance was summoned from Aase village, 25 km away.

Avita reached Nashik late in the evening where she delivered a stillborn baby girl around 1:30 a.m. on June 12.

In the morning, the hospital handed over the baby’s body to Sakharam, but refused an ambulance to take the body home.

“I went to the ST stand, bought a Rs 20 carry bag, wrapped my baby in cloth, and travelled nearly 90 kilometres in an MSRTC bus,” he said. “Nobody asked what I was carrying.”