Though she successfully delivered her first child, her second child did not survive. “As all women in the village deliver child in a nettle bush, I was also deserted in the nettle bush. My son survived, but I lost my daughter,” said Man Maya. [break]
According to her, all Chepang women in the district give birth to their babies in the nettle bush. “Several women have died while delivering babies unable to tolerate the pain,” she said.
Even today, the indigenous tribesmen do not take pregnant women to hospital for child delivery. Lack of health care facilities in the Chepang villages made matters worse, said Dil Bahadur Chepang, a member of a Chepang community in the district.
Now the District Public Health Office (DPHO) has set up birthing centers in the Chepang villages of the district. Chepang women have now started visiting the birthing centers for delivery, said Sarita Pokharel, a health worker at Darchowk health post. “As of now, over 65 Chepang women have delivered their babies in the birthing centers.”
Chief of DPHO Kehar Singh informed that the DPHO is also planning to run birthing centers in hilly VDCs including Darchowk, Kaule, Chandibhanjhayang, Kabilash and Saktikhor, among others.
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