Gopichand, a resident of the Sambhal district in Uttar Pradesh, had to carry his dead cousin home on his shoulders after a hospital in Behjoi denied him an ambulance last week. The incident would have remained unknown but for his heartbreaking pictures going viral, after which District Magistrate Anand Kumar Singh ordered action against the erring medical personnel.
A probe conducted by Deputy Collector Preet Pal Singh found that two doctors and a pharmacist working with the government hospital in Behjoi showed carelessness and did not provide Mr. Gopichand an ambulance to transfer the body of his cousin to Sadatbadi, his village, which is 5 km away.
Senior district officials told The Hindu that the incident was unfortunate, but it also revealed the lack of sufficient ambulances and hearse vans in every hospital. A hearse van was parked outside the Sambhal district hospital, 15 km away from the Behjoi hospital.
“It was a complete nightmare at the hospital. My cousin, Surajpal, was a labourer who got seriously injured while working. He was declared dead by the doctors at the Behjoi hospital. Let alone an ambulance, the hospital authorities did not even care to provide me with a stretcher. They just asked me to take away the body,” Mr. Gopichand told The Hindu.
‘Complete apathy’
“I was alone at the time in the hospital. So, without the stretcher, I took the dead body out of the hospital and asked for the ambulance. But there was complete apathy again. So I carried him on my shoulders. Later, I somehow arranged for a motorcycle and took the body home,” he added.
“I have directed the chief medical officer, Amita Singh, to take action against the doctors and the pharmacist,” Mr. Singh told the media, adding that he has asked for one more hearse van for the district.
