DOLKHA, Jan 12: Two newborns in Kalinchowk village of Dolakha district have died within a span of three days. Extreme cold and lack of proper healthcare took their life, according to the family members.
The village is considered quite remote and colder in winter due to its higher altitude. While there are no birthing centers, the village also lacks sufficient number of health workers. In addition, earthquake has rendered hundreds of families in the village homeless.
According to Junge Dhami, who on Sunday lost his newborn daughter to 'cold and lack of healthcare', the baby died soon after birth. He had taken help of a local traditional midwife for delivering the baby. "My wife had labor pain at around 7 in the evening. Soon she was attended by a traditional midwife. The baby was born at around 11:30 pm but couldn't be saved," he said. There is a health post nearby but he had to call the local midwife "as health workers are often absent at the health post."
He added that his wife had no health complications. During health checkups, health workers at the health post had said that she would have normal delivery. "But nothing turned out normal," he lamented.
After losing their house to the earthquake of April 25, the Dhamis had shifted to a makeshift shelter. "Saving my family members from cold turned out to be very challenging in this hut. We don't have warm clothes and proper food. We only have problems and more problems," he said. "Everyone's body is swollen with cold and they keep crying." He has another baby daughter.
Last Friday, Harmati Thami, 26, also lost her newborn immediately after birth. "There was nobody at home when she gave birth to the girl," said a local social worker Padam Thami. "Later, when her in-laws came, the baby was already dead."
Harmati's husband is in a foreign country for employment.
According to the health post, 29 pregnant women had attended a health camp organized two weeks ago. They were between 16 and 48 years of age. During the camp, the women said that there was no birthing center in the village so it was hard to save the newborn and their mothers in case of even a minor complication. According to Padam, acute lack of health workers hits children and elderly quite much, more so during emergencies. "Although the health post has a quota of five health workers, but not even a single health worker is seen on duty at the time of need," he said.
Meanwhile, medic Sunil Ray of the health post said that the newborns died as their family members did not seek help from the health post. "Though there are not enough health workers, I have been taking charge of everything here. But the family did not contact me," he said. "It is possible that the newborn died of cold or maybe it was stillborn," he said.
He further said that birthing center is far away from the village.
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