Shivani (Centre) in Rudraprayag
24-year-old Shivani is in the third trimester of her pregnancy. She has travelled 50 km to get to Rudraprayag, fighting fever and severe cramps. But even here, she can't get the help she needs, as the only gynaecologist on duty is out on another emergency. So she has to head to the next hospital, another 35 km away. It can take anywhere upto four hours to travel the distance. In these hilly terrain, ravaged by floods and landslides, that could be the difference between life and death.
Speaking to NDTV, an Asha worker, who assists pregnant women through their term under the Union Government's National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) program, tells us how traumatic the travel can be. Kusum says, "The ambulance was waiting on the road but it couldn't go any further (to the village). I had to help the pregnant lady walk about 2.5 km to the road and the ambulance. It was a real challenge. It is difficult to put in words what we went through. I was also anxious since she was in pain. After all, our priority was saving both lives.
In the post-delivery ward at the district hospital, 27-year-old Lalita Negi is recovering after her C-section. She had been well past her delivery date when she was evacuated by a chopper from Guptakashi.
The days preceding had been traumatic as her husband had been missing in Kedarnath.
Choking with emotion as she recollects those days, Lalita says, "He (husband) reached home after five days. I was very worried. Every morning I would wait for him to return, by evening there was still no word from him. His phone was not reachable. There was no electricity at home. I couldn't get myself to eat for four-five days, I was worried about him."
Lalita was lucky she was able to reach a hospital in time as there were medical complications.
After four miscarriages in the past, Lalita Negi delivered a baby girl on August 14, but due to medical complications, her new born had to be shifted to Dehradun's Jolly Grant Hospital. She barely got a glimpse of her daughter.
Lalita's daughter is in neonatal intensive care and she may need more surgeries. Lalita says she's been told her daughter is fine, but she is worried.
Dr KD Sharma, the Chief Medical Officer of Rudraprayag, tells us there have been 259 deliveries in the last two months in the district. "Of these", he says, "146 have been institutional deliveries, which is roughly 60 per cent of all deliveries."
Over 100 children had to be delivered at home as their villages were either too remote or cut off. In five cases, women in labour were evacuated using helicopters.
It has been two months since the area was ravaged by massive floods.
The state, hobbling to recovery, has a long way to go.
The cry of these new born babies, ironically, are perhaps the only celebration of life that's delivering hope in a terrain that's been overcast with gloom and despair.