A man in Uttar Pradesh’s Kaushambi was forced to carry body of his niece on a bicycle after being allegedly denied an ambulance by a government hospital, in yet another case of medical apathy in the state.
Hospital authorities ostensibly asked the bereaved uncle of the Poonam, the minor girl who had died on Monday morning after a severe bout of diarrhea, to pay the fuel cost of the ambulance if he wanted to avail it to take the body home.
As the family was not in a position to afford the cost, Brij Mohan carried his dead niece on his shoulder and cycled all the way to their village, some 10km away.
On May 20, a man had to carry his dead wife on a stretcher for some distance after being denied ambulance. Later, sensing trouble, the doctors provided him an ambulance to transport the body.
In another appalling incident, a labourer was forced to carry the body of his 15-year-old son on his shoulder a few months ago after being allegedly denied help by doctors at a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district.
Poonam’s family was reportedly finding it difficult even to bear the cost of treatment at the district hospital, where she had been admitted since Saturday.
Girl’s father Anant Kumar, a labourer from the district’s Malak Saddi village, had to leave behind his ailing daughter under the care of his brother-in-law Brij Mohan, to look for some odd jobs in Allahabad to arrange some money for the treatment.
“How could I pay the fuel cost? Whatever little money we had was all spent on her treatment,” said Brij Mohan.
After the shocking incident came to the fore, district authorities lodged an FIR against the doctor on duty and the ambulance driver.
Kaushambi district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma said a report on the incident was sent to the government.
District’s chief medical officer Dr SK Upadhyay said an inquiry would be ordered into the matter and action would be initiated against the guilty.
“The chief medical superintendent of the district hospital told me that the government does not provide them fund for the fuel. The day-to-day fuel requirements are being met through contributions from the hospital staff,” he said.
Source: HindustanTimes