Twin joys amid water woes

The cry of newborn babies today brought relief on a mother's face, amid the vagaries of nature, in Vaishali on Sunday.

Rekha gave birth to two baby boys on a boat, while being rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel.

A resident of Chandrapur village in Vaishali, Rekha was being ferried to the state capital when she started experiencing labour pains. The NDRF team thought of taking her to the nearby Mohanpur referral hospital. Before the NDRF team could reach the hospital, she delivered the twins around 8.30am under the supervision of the NDRF team.

"We have undergone medical first responders' training for a month in which we were taught how to handle emergency deliveries," said Rishikesh Kumar, the NDRF team commandantRishikesh said the NDRF team changed its destination at the last minute because it could have created further complications. "Initially, we had decided to ferry the lady to Patna but later we changed our mind and decided to take her to Mohanpur referral hospital. While we could reach Mohanpur referral hospital in 20 minutes, it would have taken not less than an hour to reach Patna," said Rishikesh. The NDRF team said they cut the umbilical cord with the help of an Accredited social health activist (Asha) worker on board. "This time, we took help of an Asha worker but if she had not been on board, we could have managed it on our own because we have received training," he said.

Rishikesh said Asha workers in the flood-affected areas were providing them information about expectant ladies stuck in the region owing to which they were being able to rescue them.The water level in most of the major rivers maintained a receding trend but the flood fury is still wrecking havoc in many areas. More than 12 districts have been hit by these floods which have affected lives of more than 3.7 million people.