Ranchi:
It's close to 9 pm at night and a woman has gone into labour at a primary healthcare centre (PHC) in a remote block near Ranchi. Her condition is serious, her blood pressure is dangerously high and she faces the risk of bleeding during the delivery as well as seizures.
But there is no medicine to control her Blood Pressure or stop her bleeding. Even blood is not available.
"There are no medicines available here," says her brother.
The two nervous auxillary nurse midwives (ANM) on duty say they had referred her to Ranchi, but she went into labour.
The closest hospital is 50 kilometres away, a journey that can be fatal for both the mother and child.
The baby is delivered and fortunately the bleeding is not excessive, but the doctor has to go into an overdrive because the newborn shows signs of foetal distress. He can't breathe on his own.
Some quick management helps safe the baby's life.
The team is exhausted but relieved, since it was touch and go. Too many things could have gone wrong.
"You need basic facilities to manage post partum bleeding like medicines, injections and blood," said the doctor.
Most women in rural India face similar risks during childbirth because PHCs are equipped with nothing except ANMs and a few beds. A key reason why so many women and newborns lose their lives. In the last one year, 222 newborns died in three blocks of the same district, only a few kilometers apart.