Bajura, May 2
Two pregnant women have been fighting for their dear life at the emergency ward of the Martadi-based District Public Health Office in Bajura for days.
The two are Basanti Bista (22) of Jagannath VDC-3, Bajura, and Sarada BK of Badimalika municipality-9 of the same district. Relatives had brought Bista to the district headquarters-based health centre after a local health post and a primary health post in Kolti failed to provide her treatment.
Her brother-in-law Ram Bahadur Bista said, “For three days, we waited at Kolti for the plane to arrive, but it did not. So we brought her here. Here too, there’s a shortage of blood. All four of our family are here for her. But we do not know whether she will make it or not. The placenta has come out, but she has not been able to give birth to the baby.
Lalita Thapa, senior assistant nurse midwife at Bajura DPHO, says Bista requires at least six pints of O+ blood. Attending doctor Rajan Neupane has donated one pint. No donor has offered to donate blood thereafter.
Sarada BK also has the same problem. She has anemia, so she had prolonged labour. Her husband, Surje BK, says: We need blood to operate on her and take the baby out.
No donor has come to her rescue so far. There’s no blood transfusion centre in the district. Security personnel and health professionals donate blood voluntarily to save lives.
“Nepal Red Cross Society Bajura should have established a blood bank. There’s problem in establishing the bank because it has not yet got an approval from the centre. Several times, we sent proposals to this effect to the centre (NRCS head office) by holding all-party meetings, but to no avail,” says minister at NRCS Bajura, Ram Bahadur Shahi.
In the absence of blood bank in the district, many pregant women die for want of blood every year.
