CRPF air lifts pregnant tribal woman to safety in Naxal zone

In a rare gesture, the CRPF has air-lifted a pregnant tribal woman from an interior Naxal violence-affected area of Sukma district for better treatment outside after her condition deteriorated.
Officials said the incident occurred on the night of April 14 when the woman, identified as Bheemey from the far-flung Morpalli village of the said district, suffered acute pain due her eight months of pregnancy and was rushed to the paramilitary forces' field hospital in Chintalnar.
As the entire area was locked down due to a Maoist 'bandh' called over the weekend and darkness could not allow an immediate air-lift, she was admitted at the hospital under the care of CRPF doctors for the night.

The force tried to shift her to Dornapal the next day as there are some medical facilities available, but the Maoists had blasted the roads in the area and hence vehicular movement was not possible.
Finally the force decided to air lift Bheemey on April 16 and requisitioned a chopper which soon landed inside the protected Central Reserve Police Force camp in Chintalnar.
A team of doctors from CRPF accompanied her to get her admitted to a private hospital in nearby Jagdalpur.

Officials quoting doctors said the woman was now doing fine and was under constant observation of specialists.
"The force will bear all expenses for her treatment. This is the least we can do to help the inhabitants of the area the force is deployed in," a senior CRPF official said.

The force, deployed extensively in Chhattisgarh for anti-Maoist operations, has recently opened four field hospitals in the Bastar area, including at Chintalnar, to not only provide medical care and aid to its troops in action but also to locals who had to face challenges due to lack of government medical facilities in the area.