Baramulla, Aug 12: It was 10.24 am when the 108 Emergency Response Centre received a distress call from Hamam Markot, a remote forest hamlet in Tehsil Dangiwacha, Baramulla. An 18-year-old woman, Gulshana Bano, a primigravida, was in advanced labour. The nearest ambulance from SDH Rohama was rushed.
But when the ambulance reached the last motorable point near Hamam Markot at 11.05 am, the team realised the habitation was still deep inside the forest — nearly 8 km away, with no road access. EMT Bilal Ahmad Mir and Pilot Mudasar Ahmad Sheikh didn’t wait. They picked up the stretcher, packed essential medical equipment — IV fluids, delivery kit, oxygen — and started walking.
For one hour and 15 minutes, they navigated steep forest tracks, carrying the equipment on their shoulders. When they finally reached Gulshana, she was in active labour. Moving her to a facility was not an option — the terrain was too difficult and the distance too long. The EMT assessed her condition and decided to conduct the delivery at the site itself.
At around 1.35 pm, with the pilot assisting, Bilal delivered a live male newborn. The team immediately stabilised both mother and child, maintaining IV access and administering fluids. After ensuring they were fit to be moved, the team carried them back through the same forest track to the ambulance, and shifted them to PHC Dangiwacha, where they were admitted at 2.59 pm for further care.
For the family, the relief was palpable. “We had almost lost hope. The forest is so dense, we didn’t think anyone would reach us in time,” a family member told Kashmir Convener. “They walked for over an hour, carrying heavy equipment, just to save my daughter and grandson. We can’t thank them enough.”
For hundreds of families living in Jammu and Kashmir’s most inaccessible pockets, the 108 ambulance service has emerged as nothing short of a lifeline. Residents of border areas, cut off from the nearest hospitals by miles of treacherous terrain, say the service has transformed the way they approach medical emergencies.
“Earlier, we would carry our sick on makeshift stretchers or bullock carts for hours. Many died on the way,” said Mohammad Ashraf, a resident of a remote village in Kupwara, whose pregnant sister-in-law was recently rushed to hospital by a 108 ambulance. “Now, we dial one number and help arrives. It has saved so many lives in our village.”
In Gurez Valley, where roads remain snowbound for months, locals recall how 108 teams have braved blizzards to evacuate patients. “They don’t ask if the road is good. They just come,” said Fatima Begum, a 65-year-old from the valley who was evacuated during a medical emergency last winter. “This service is a blessing for people like us who live in the mountains.”
Villagers in remote areas of Poonch and Rajouri have also come to rely heavily on the service. “The 108 staff don’t hesitate to walk kilometres if the vehicle can’t reach,” said Abdul Rashid, a village head in a hamlet along the Line of Control. “We have seen them carry patients on stretchers across rivers and through forests. They are not just ambulance staff — they are saviours.”
This is the reality of emergency healthcare in Jammu and Kashmir, where difficult geography and inaccessible terrain often pose the biggest challenge. The 108 JKEMS team, however, has consistently shown that its personnel are willing to go the extra mile — in this case, literally — to ensure that no life is lost because a road ends.
“Our mandate is to reach every individual in need, no matter where they are,” said a 108 official. “This team showed exemplary commitment and professionalism under extreme conditions. We are proud of them.”
The mother and newborn are currently stable and under observation at PHC Dangiwacha. For the 108 team, it was just another day on the job — but for Gulshana Bano and her family, it was the day they were given a second chance..
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