Shillong: A three-year-old boy died in his mother’s arms after his parents were forced to walk nearly 10 km from their remote village in Meghalaya’s West Khasi Hills district in search of medical transport, prompting the district administration to seek official reports and order a field inspection.Habankyrshan Marbaniang’s parents reportedly set out on foot from Domkyrkoh village on Oct 1 after failing to find a vehicle to take their ailing child to Mawdet. The child died before they could arrange further transportation.Taking “serious note of the tragic death”, the West Khasi Hills district administration has sought reports from the BDO of Rambrai Block, the district medical and health officer and the executive engineer of PWD (Roads) to establish the sequence of events and assess the healthcare, emergency transport and road connectivity challenges in the area.A multi-disciplinary team from the health department will visit Domkyrkoh on Oct 6 to conduct an on-ground inspection.“The findings will guide the district administration in taking appropriate immediate measures to strengthen healthcare access and emergency response in the area. At the same time, the PWD (Roads) will pursue necessary steps towards execution of the sanctioned CRIF road project for providing permanent and improved connectivity to Domkyrkoh and the wider Mawdet region,” the administration said in a statement.Domkyrkoh falls under the healthcare coverage area of the Mawkhiat Sub-Centre, a functional PM-ABHIM sub-centre that has been operational for the past year. However, the facility is around one-and-a-half hours away from the village on foot and comes under Rambrai PHC.An emergency transport arrangement is also available in the region under the CM’s Safe Motherhood Scheme.“However, preliminary information indicates that local health workers were not informed about the child’s illness before or during the onset of symptoms, and therefore the available local emergency transport mechanism could not be activated at that stage,” the statement said.The administration said the incident had brought into focus the severe transport difficulties faced by residents of Domkyrkoh and surrounding areas. Vehicular access is through Mainop village, but the road becomes non-motorable during heavy rainfall and adverse weather conditions.With public transport also limited, the district administration said it was aware of the long-standing connectivity problems in the region and would pursue measures to improve access to Domkyrkoh and the wider Mawdet area.
