Fighting to live: Silent battles in floodwaters

Floods in Punjab have submerged villages, stranded thousands, destroyed crops and damaged infrastructure. Behind this visible destruction, another silent public health emergency is happening — interrupted medical care for pregnant women.

Pregnancy is not an illness but a physiological condition requiring constant monitoring, nutrition, and timely medical intervention. Floods, however, disrupt every aspect of maternal health, often in ways that go unnoticed until tragedy strikes.

Factcheck: All 23 districts of Punjab have been declared flood-hit, after rivers and reservoirs swelled to near-danger levels. A total of 2,484 villages have been affected, impacting a population of 3,89,279 across the state. As many as 23,340 people have been evacuated from low-lying and flood-affected areas, while 57 lives have been lost. Source: Department of Information & Public Relations, Punjab

Key challenges

Disrupted antenatal care: Regular antenatal check-ups help track maternal health and foetal growth. During floods, rural health centres and sub-centres often remain cut off, forcing women to miss crucial visits.

Unsafe deliveries: With ambulances unable to reach remote or inaccessible villages, many women are compelled to deliver at home, without skilled attendants, increasing the risk of maternal and neonatal deaths.

Malnutrition and anaemia: Relief camps mostly provide rice and wheat with little nutritional diversity. This worsens existing anaemia and malnutrition among pregnant women, putting both mother and child at risk.

Infectious diseases: Pregnant women are more vulnerable to malaria, dengue, diarrhoea and leptospirosis, all of which are more prevalent during floods.

Psychological stress: Overcrowding, displacement, and uncertainty in relief camps elevate maternal stress levels, which can directly affect foetal development and pregnancy outcomes.

Consequences

• Increased maternal mortality due to unsafe deliveries and untreated complications.
• Higher neonatal mortality from premature births, low birth weight, and infections.
• Increased infections and sepsis, adding to the burden on hospitals. Long-term health impacts including untreated anaemia, chronic malnutrition, and lasting psychological trauma.

Advance preparations

Floods have become recurring events. Preparedness must be woven into the public health and disaster response systems. Proactive planning is the only way to safeguard the most vulnerable groups.

Mobile medical caravans: Equipped with ultrasound machines, antenatal kits, and essential drugs to reach stranded populations.

Green corridors for vulnerable patients: Beneficial for pregnant women in labour and requiring urgent intervention.

Decentralised medical stocks: It should be available at district level to ensure uninterrupted access to vital medicines and nutritional supplements.

Community health training: This initiative can empower local women with skills in safe delivery, neonatal resuscitation and emergency care.

Telemedicine integration: This can be done by using smartphones and digital kits in relief camps to connect patients with specialists.

Solar-powered health pods: These are portable and eco-friendly clinics capable of refrigeration for medicines, ensuring safe deliveries and support even during prolonged power outages.

Vulnerable groups must be mapped into disaster preparedness. Updated registries of high-risk pregnancies and other serious patients should be maintained at the block level. Rapid response teams should prioritise these lives during relief operations. Ultimately, the measure of any disaster response is not in how quickly roads are cleared, but in how well we protect those caught between life unborn and life fighting to live.

— The writer is District Epidemiologist, Civil Surgeon Office, Jalandhar