Coimbatore: A team of officials from the National Rural Health Mission, who conducted an inquiry five days after a 34-year-old tribal woman was found dead giving birth to a healthy baby boy at Nellithurai Mannam near Pollachi, suspects foul play.Social activists had blamed the authorities, saying that the woman died due to the absence of toilet facilities and not getting medical care during pregnancy.“We wanted to understand how none of the medical initiatives for tribal people reached the woman and if the whole tribe was losing out of institutional health care,” director of public health P Kulandaisamy said.The team, which interacted with the locals on Friday and Saturday, said that the house of Rekha Subramanian, the victim, was hardly 2km away from the Aliyar Primary Health Centre. “The house is hardly half-a-kilometre from the main road. A mobile medical unit that visits the settlement thrice a week parks in front of their house,” said the investigating officer. “Other members in the 25-family-strong settlement say that they have received vaccinations and even medicines for diabetes,” she told TOI.The officials found it strange that no one in the hamlet knew about the woman’s pregnancy, including her two daughters aged 12 and 10, her mother-in-law and neighbours. “Her husband says he knew about it only when she was in sixth or seventh month. He said his wife was scared of the community speaking ill behind her back because of having conceived more than a decade after having two children,” said the doctor. “They know the importance of an institutional delivery and had gone to a private hospital for delivery of the two girls,” Kulandaisamy said.The tribals openly defecate in a space filled with gravel stones, the investigating officer said. “The baby and the woman were reportedly found by the husband between two sharp jagged stones. There is a chance of the mother injured by the stones. But we suspect foul play,” she said.Tribal activists said the department should ensure they have volunteerseducated members from tribal groupswho tribal families and women trust. “While there is a provision to hire local community members as volunteers and pay them a stipend, we should ensure all PHCs have them and they are utilized well,” said Thanaraj, a social activist from Pollachi.Meanwhile, work on repairing the public toilet has begun. “They are constructing a septic tank, laying pipes for water connecting and wiring for electricity,” said Thanaraj.

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