Central India's Chhattisgarh has one of the highest rates of pregnancy-related deaths for mothers across the country. A growing fleet of motorbike ambulances is working to change that.
After 40 minutes of digging and a push to lift the vehicle from the riverbed onto the muddy path, the team was on its way again.
"My baby will be safer," she said in Gondi, a language spoken by an estimated 13 million members of the Indigenous Gond community.Motorbike ambulances are helping mothers give birth in Narayanpur district, in central India's Chhattisgarh state. The lack of roads often forces villagers to resort to makeshift palanquins to transport the very sick.
Today, there are 13 bike ambulances operating in three districts of Chhattisgarh, run by local authorities and a non-profit called Saathi with the support of UNICEF.The ambulances focus on bringing mothers to and from the hospital, but have also been called to transport victims of snake bites and other emergencies.
Without the ambulance it would have been difficult or even impossible for women like Ms Poyam to give birth in hospital.Mother and son had to disembark a few times while the motorbike ambulance negotiated a tricky slope or a rocky riverbed.
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