Three newborns have died on Sunday in Sohdra, a flood-affected village of Gujranwala, after their mother failed to reach a hospital as rising waters had cut off all access routes.
The woman, who was expecting triplets, went into labour but could not be taken to a medical facility as access routes had submerged underneath flood waters. She gave birth to her first child at home, but complications quickly developed.
The family arranged a boat to take her to a hospital in an effort to save her and the babies. But she gave birth to two more children as they were being taken in a car toward the boat.
Due to the lack of medical attention, all three infants – two daughters and a son – died. Overcome with grief, the mother said, “Roads opened for everyone else, but not for us.”
This is not the first time such a tragedy has been reported in Pakistan, where women have been unable to access hospitals in time.
In November 2022, a woman in Dir Upper District lost her newborn after giving birth on the way to a hospital, barely surviving herself.
Similarly, in August 2021, another woman delivered a baby girl inside an ambulance near the Hazara Motorway’s Shah Maqsood Interchange.