“One has to walk for a day to reach the Bharatpur Hospital. And it takes no less than three hours to reach the nearest health post.”

CHITWAN, Jan 13: Eleven hours after delivering her baby, a twenty-two years old nursing mother Subimaya Chepang in the remote Kanda village in Chitwan died Thursday after excessive bleeding amid lack of medical intervention. According to the husband of the deceased, Mangal Bahadur Chepang, 24, though she was bleeding badly it 'was not easy to rush her to the health post as that would take three hours of walk up and down the hills.'

“One has to walk for a day to reach the Bharatpur Hospital. And it takes no less than three hours to reach the nearest health post,” Mangal lamented.  

Subimaya had given birth to a baby girl at around seven o'clock on Wednesday evening without help from anyone in a corner of a cropfield. And soon after giving birth, she came home holding the baby in her arms.

“This is how all Chepang mothers give birth. When the labor pain starts, they look for an isolated place to give birth,” narrated the husband. “She also ran to the field after her labor pain started and came back soon with a baby girl in her arms,” he added. The girl is the second child of the couple.
 
He further said that the placenta had not come out when she was back from the field. 

“She appeared healthy as she held the baby by herself. I cooked rice gruel and she took some. But all this while the placenta had not come out and she was bleeding, so we got worried,” Mangal said.
 
As the family was getting ready to take her to the health post, Subimaya breathed her last at around five o'clock on Thursday morning. According to Balkrishna Thapaliya, the principal of a primary school in the village, Subimaya's is rather a representative case that exposes the healthcare scenario in the remote area. “Many Chepang mothers are still dying in this fashion. Even the health post is far away, let alone the hospitals. During emergencies like this, there's no way to save life,” he stated.
 
Six years ago, eight members of a Chepang family had died in the same Kanda village after consuming mushroom they had collected from the jungle. 

//////////File photo - Subimaya Tamang with her first baby in this photo taken 3 years ago. She died on Thursday morning after delivering her second baby due to excessive bleeding. Bishnu Gautam - Photo courtesy

 
• chepang
 
• excessive bleeding