In a heart-wrenching incident, three newborns died on Sunday in the flood-hit village of Sohdra, Gujranwala, after their mother was unable to reach a hospital due to road closures caused by heavy flooding.
The woman, who was expecting triplets, went into labour and could not be taken to any medical facility as floodwaters had cut off access routes. She delivered her first baby at home, but complications soon arose.
In an attempt to save the mother and children, the family arranged a boat to shift her to the hospital. However, while being driven in a car to the boat, she gave birth to two more babies.
All three newborns — two girls and a boy — died due to the lack of timely medical assistance. Devastated by the tragedy, the mother lamented, “Roads opened for everyone else, but not for us.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first such case in the country where a pregnant woman failed to get timely medical care. In the past, similar tragedies have been reported when women were unable to reach hospitals due to road closures caused by VIP movement or other reasons.
In November 2022, a woman lost her newborn after giving birth on her way to a hospital in Dir Upper District, barely surviving herself.
In August 2021, another woman delivered a baby girl inside an ambulance while being shifted to a hospital near the Hazara Motorway’s Shah Maqsood Interchange.
