A family was forced to carry the body of a 60-year-old woman on a cot for about 2.5 km after a government hospital allegedly refused to provide them a hearse in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband district.
The incident occurred on Monday after the woman, Ichhabai Patel, died while undergoing treatment at the community health centre (CHC) in Amlipadar under the Mainpur development block, her relative Dipchand Patel told reporters.
“When we asked for a hearse to take the body home, the hospital staff refused. Private vehicle owners demanded a hefty amount, which we could not afford. We had no other option but to carry the body on a cot to our village, Nayapara, around 2.5 km from Amlipadar,” he claimed.
A video of the incident, which surfaced on social media, shows four men walking down the road carrying the cot on their shoulders.
When contacted, Gariaband Collector Bhagwan Singh Uikey said that he has directed the district’s chief medical and health officer (CMHO) to ensure that such incidents don’t recur.
“I spoke to the CMHO. According to him, the hospital staff had informed the family that a hearse was on its way from Deobhog (around 26 km from Amlipadar), but the relatives did not wait for it,” Uikey said.
He further said that a hearse usually stationed at Amlipadar had been damaged in an accident and was not operational.
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“Such incidents must not happen. The health department has been instructed to ensure constant monitoring and to make all efforts to prevent recurrence,” the collector said.
