Denied vehicle by govt hospital in Bihar, kin carry bodies of minor flood victims on shoulders

Raju Mahto and Sanjay Paswan carried the bodies of the two children for nearly 250 metres before hiring private vehicles to take the corpses to their villages in Meenapur block of Muzaffarpur district.

Family members of two minor flood victims were forced to carry the bodies on their shoulders in north Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district after being allegedly denied an ambulance or a mortuary van.

Sanjay Paswan carrying the body of his nephew Bunty on his shoulder in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district.(HT photo)

Raju Mahto and Sanjay Paswan carried the bodies of the two children for nearly 250 metres from the post-mortem department of the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) at Muzaffarpur, 71 km north of Patna, before hiring private vehicles to take the corpses to their villages in Meenapur block of the district.

Abhishek Kumar, son of Raju Mahto of Dubarbana village, and Bunty, nephew of Sanjay Paswan of Mothaha village, died after drowning in flood waters on Tuesday. Cops from the Meenapur police station had brought the bodies to the SKMCH for autopsy.

“We pleaded with the hospital administration to provide us an ambulance or a mortuary van to carry the bodies to our respective villages. When they refused, we were left with no option, but to carry the bodies on our shoulders to the place where private transporters park their vehicles,” Mahto and Paswan said.

Raju Mahto carrying the body of his son Abhishek. (HT photo )

SKMCH superintendent Dr GK Thakur, however, refuted the allegations. “We have always provided ambulances and mortuary vans whenever demanded. The bodies of Abhishek and Bunty were directly handed over to the relatives after post-mortem examination, but, they never requested for vehicles,” Thakur said.

Thakur said he had ordered an inquiry into the matter. A team of doctors and hospital officials are probing it. “Stern action would be taken, if any hospital employee is found guilty,” Thakur added.

District magistrate Dharmendra Singh could not be reached for comments as he was busy in flood relief operations.

This is not the first incident of denial of ambulance facility by government hospitals in the last six months.

In March this year, relatives of a woman who died at the Muzaffarpur sadar hospital, were forced to carry her body on foot for about 500 metres before they could engage an auto-rickshaw to take it home. This, too, happened after they were allegedly denied an ambulance at the hospital.

In June, a man in Purnia district of north-eastern Bihar carried the body of his wife on a motorcycle, to reach his village home for her last rites as was also allegedly denied a mortuary van at a government hospital.

These incidents brought back to mind harrowing August 2016 images of Odisha tribal Dana Manjhi carrying on his shoulder the body of his wife, after being denied a vehicle by a Kalahandi hospital to carry it to his village for her last rites.