Maternity care in Chhattisgarh's Surguja division is in the grip of a serious crisis. Instead of conducting deliveries themselves, district hospitals and community health centres are now routinely sending pregnant women straight on to the Ambikapur Medical College Hospital. The result is grim: many women and their newborns, setting out from far-flung areas for treatment, are dying on the road before they ever reach the hospital.
Rural and Tribal Belts Bear the Brunt
The state of health infrastructure in the division's rural and tribal areas has long been a cause for concern. Whether it is a routine delivery or a complicated one, patients are being lifted out of district hospitals and sub-health centres and dispatched directly to the Ambikapur Medical College. The problem is that simply travelling from remote villages to Ambikapur can swallow several hours.
Broken roads, ambulances that do not arrive on time, and treatment that comes too late — together these three factors are proving fatal for many pregnant women and newborn infants. Put in numbers, 5 out of every 100 mothers are losing their lives, while the infant mortality rate has also climbed.
A Shortage of Resources Forces the Referrals
Social workers say plainly that local hospitals are crippled by a severe shortage of gynaecologists, trained staff and essential resources, and that this is precisely why patients are referred onward out of sheer compulsion. Conditions are so poor that many hospitals do not even offer round-the-clock obstetric services, leaving women who arrive at odd hours with no option at all.
The First Hour Matters Most — and It Is Lost on the Road
When the TrendKia team spoke to a gynaecologist, she explained that both mother and child are in urgent need of care immediately after delivery. According to her, the first 1 hour is extremely critical, and keeping a close watch on this window is absolutely essential. The tragedy is that in Surguja this most precious hour is often consumed by bad roads and the long journey itself.
Mounting Pressure on the Medical College, and Hard Questions
The steadily rising number of referrals has multiplied the burden on the Ambikapur Medical College Hospital as well. That raises a pressing question: what exactly is lacking in the district hospitals that most patients have to be pushed towards the medical college? And the price of this entire arrangement is ultimately being paid by ordinary people — with their own lives and those of their newborns. The condition of local hospitals, the availability of specialist doctors and the functioning of the whole referral system are all now under serious scrutiny.
