By Our Correspondent, Humla, Nov. 15: Due to the lack of road access, locals of most villages in the district are compelled to carry patients on stretchers to move them from home to hospitals or from one hospital to another.

Jaya Bahadur Mahatara, a local of Unapani Village in Sarkegad Rural Municipality-3, said, "We are compelled to carry patients on stretchers and walk for 1.30 hours to reach to the health post."

"On top of this, we do not have enough stretchers at the village. This creates a problem when many people fall sick at the same time," he said, adding that two days earlier, the locals had carried a pregnant woman to the maternity house on a stretcher some 14 hours after she went into labour pain.

Mahatara added, "Once it took us a day to take a patient to the health post from Sarkegad-1."

Moreover, Dhan Lal Chaulagain, a local of Mimi Village in Chankheli Rural Municipality-3, said that he had to carry a patient to the health post for three long hours. "Although a road has been constructed in our village, there is no alternative but to carry the patients on a stretcher due to the unavailability of ambulance service."

All seven rural municipalities of the district are facing the same problem.

Meanwhile, senior ANM at the Office of Health Services Sarita Bohara said that stretchers were the only reliable means to bring patients to the hospitals as the villages have not been connected to the road network.

"As the Office of Health Services, rural municipalities and various other private organisations have donated stretchers, it has been easier to carry patients," added Bohara. However, the locals have been complaining that it was difficult and risky to carry patients on stretchers.