An ailing tribal woman, residing in a remote hamlet in Mokhada taluka of the Palghar district, was rushed to a hospital by her relatives in a makeshift stretcher for four km, before they hired a private vehicle to reach a nearby hospital. The 35-year-old, Sundar Jayram Kirkire, lives with her family in Markatwadi village where one can reach only after negotiating the drain and hill. Local residents told mid-day that it had been raining heavily on July 6, when the tribal woman fell sick. “Her husband Jayram informed ASHA worker Manda Wagh about her condition in the early hours of July 7, and Wagh decided to take her to the hospital,” said Triyambak Malak, sarpanch of Botoshi village. “There is no pucca road in the village. So, Kirkire had to be carried in a palanquin made using sticks and bed-sheet and covered in tarpaulin,” he added.

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