In a heart-wrenching incident, a man in Prayagraj was forced to carry his wife’s body on a cart for almost 45 kilometres after hospital authorities denied to provide him with an ambulance to carry her body.
The man, identified as Kallu had admitted his wife for treatment for head injuries at the Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) hospital in the city. According to him, his wife died in the hospital during the treatment after her condition deteriorated. After the wife’s death, Kallu requested the hospital authorities to make provisions to carry his wife’s body back to their village Shankargarh, but the authorities did not pay heed to his request.
After the incident came to light, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Bara, Indrabhan Tiwari visited Kallu’s residence on Friday and gave him Rs 2000 to perform the last rites of his wife Sona Devi. The SDM said that benefits of other government schemes will also be provided to the family.
Uttar Pradesh’s Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh has assured that strict action will be taken against those found guilty of negligence. Medical Officer of SRN hospital AK Srivastava has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the incident.
The hospital authorities say they have not found any record of the patient. They have not issued any death certificate for the deceased either.
In a similar incident, family members of a deceased woman were forced to carry her body out of a government hospital on a cart at Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh in July last year. The hospital authorities said that they had asked the family members to wait while they could arrange an ambulance.
Following the incident, the administration was ordered to review the facilities at the government-run Medical College Hospital (MCH) at Rajnandgaon.
The Logical Indian Take
Ambulance to carry the mortal remains of an individual is a basic civil amenity that one expects from a government-run hospital. Such cases where family members are forced to carry the dead bodies of their relatives put a question mark on the preparedness of the government health machinery in adverse cases such as the death of an individual. The Logical Indian asks where is the respect for the dead, if not for the living?
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