Poor health infrastructure in the Palghar district claimed another life on Sunday, alleged a tribal activist. A nine-month pregnant tribal woman developed severe labour pain on Saturday afternoon and was forced to travel to three different medical institutions, even as she was bleeding, before breathing her last in the wee hours of Sunday. A resident of Kayri village in Palghar’s Jawhar taluka, Rekha Potinda, 36, died at Nashik Civil Hospital, 150 km away from her home. She is survived by her husband Salim Potinda, and their children — three sons and a daughter.

“Her neighbours had called an ambulance and she was rushed to the Primary Health Centre at Sakharshet, about 10 to 12 km from Kayri village,” said Sita Ghatal of Shranjeevi Sangathana, a social group working for the welfare of tribals in Maharashtra. “After three hours at the PHC, she was referred to sub-district hospital in Jawhar, where the doctors couldn’t handle the pregnancy-related complications and referred her to Nashik Civil Hospital [150 km away from her village], where she died around 1.15 am on Sunday,” Ghatal told mid-day. Her husband was at work at the time.