Zaffer Iqbal
Uri, Jan 5 : Villagers in Boniyar in frontier north Kashmir’s Baramulla district were forced to ferry an expecting woman on a cot due to closure of roads for vehicular traffic amid prevailing inclement weather conditions.
The woman, a resident of Hillan Phalipora was carried by several men of her neighbourhood on a cot, after she complained of labour pain.
Husband of the expecting woman Mohammad Saleem Khattana told GNS that they informed PHC Boniyar to send a vehicle to carry her however due to closure of link road they (hospital staff) could not reach to fetch her to the health facility.
Sensing the exigency, I along with several of my neighbourhood people carried her on a cot upto five kilometres from where we boarded the hospital vehicle, he said.
Urging the authorities to clear the snow clogged roads, Khattana seconded by several others asked for restoration of roads to avoid any difficulty to the patients and commoners alike.
Meanwhile BMO Boniyar Dr. Pervaiz Masoodi told GNS that directions have been already passed to all officials concerned to evacuate all the women expecting deliveries’ in coming days to avert any emergency.
Regarding the particular incident, the Medical Officer said that they even had asked (this) woman to get herself admitted, but she didn’t.
The SDM Uri has in the meantime conveyed that the snow clearance of roads takes place in the order of priority decided by the intensity of traffic that plies on the road.
“The main roads and highways are cleared first followed by the link roads since it was still snowing and accumulation wasn’t much, the snow clearance was proposed for the daytime”, he said.
“As clarified by BMO, case wasn’t of emergency nature and the patient could have been easily evacuated after clearance of the road”, he said.
“All field departments are working tirelessly to ensure that minimum disruption is caused to the services despite heavy snowfall and men and machinery are on job as of now as well”, he further said. (GNS)
