A pregnant woman delivered her baby inside an autorickshaw on Tuesday afternoon after a severe traffic jam brought the vehicle carrying her to Ulhasnagar’s government-run Central Hospital almost to a standstill.
A pregnant woman delivered her baby inside an autorickshaw on Tuesday afternoon after a severe traffic jam brought the vehicle carrying her to Ulhasnagar’s government-run Central Hospital almost to a standstill. Harikala (30), a resident of Section 20 in Camp No. 3, went into labour and was rushed to the hospital by her family in an autorickshaw after they were unable to find any other vehicle near their home.
However, the autorickshaw got stuck in traffic between the Seva Sadan area and Mayur Hotel in the New Era locality, barely moving for around 20 minutes, according to Harikala’s relative Laxmi Thapa, who was accompanying her.
With the hospital only a short distance away, Harikala went into advanced labour before they could reach the facility.
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“When we were just a short distance away from the hospital, she delivered the baby inside the autorickshaw,” said Laxmi.
The autorickshaw eventually reached Central Hospital, where medical staff immediately examined Harikala and the newborn before admitting them for further care.
“We were told that the baby is healthy,” she said.
Harikala’s case is not an isolated instance of a woman giving birth while being transported to a hospital. Babies have frequently been delivered inside ambulances while their mothers were being rushed for medical care.
According to Maharashtra state health department data, around 40,000 babies were born inside 108 ambulances across the state between 2014 and 2024.
Unlike Harikala’s case, however, many of those ambulance deliveries were linked either to labour progressing rapidly or to women living in remote rural areas where reaching hospitals can be difficult.
