Pregnant women in remote Telangana villages face monsoon risks

In Kumram Bheem Asifabad, 128 pregnant women in 151 remote villages face serious risk during the monsoon due to flooding and lack of road access. Health officials have begun monitoring and planning relocations to ensure timely maternal care and prevent fatalities

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: Pregnant women living in remote areas of the district are expected to face difficult days ahead during the monsoon.

Health officials have identified 151 villages likely to be cut off by overflowing streams and rivulets. These villages are home to 128 pregnant women expected to deliver between June and August.

---

Officials warned that these women may face difficulties accessing nearby primary health centres or sub-centres if heavy rains flood the streams.

For instance, Gundi village in Asifabad mandal has four pregnant women with expected delivery dates in August. If the local stream floods, they would have to travel 25 km to reach the district headquarters hospital. A temporary bridge built across the stream was recently washed away, worsening the villagers’ predicament.

Between 2018 and 2024, nearly 100 pregnant women died during childbirth in the erstwhile Adilabad district, according to data from the Medical and Health Department. Most of these deaths were attributed to poor road connectivity and the absence of bridges across rivulets, which prevented timely access to hospitals.

In one such incident, Farzana Begum (28), a daily-wage labourer from Yelkapalli village in Bejjur mandal and wife of Saleem, died en route to the hospital a few years ago. Similarly, Bodduna Saritha (32), a full-term pregnant woman from Sulugupalli village, died while being rushed to a hospital in Mancherial in 2018.

“The women living in interior villages can have safe deliveries only if they reach a primary health centre on time. The district has seen several maternal deaths during transportation in past years. The monsoon brings added challenges for pregnant women here,” observed Kotnaka Vijay, a tribal rights activist.

Health and Medical Department officials said efforts were underway to avoid inconvenience for pregnant women this year. They said the women had been identified and their health conditions were being monitored by recently constituted committees.

Steps were being taken to ensure the availability of medicines at nearby health centres, and pregnant women would be relocated to safer locations if required.