Hubballi: Refused ambulance, family carries suspected Covid victim's body on bicycle

BELAGAVI: Relatives of a 71-year-old man were forced to carry his body to the graveyard on a bicycle on Sunday after local authorities in MK Hubballi near Belagavi allegedly refused to provide an ambulance for the purpose. The elderly man had succumbed to a cardiac arrest on Sunday morning after a brief illness.
The family’s neighbours in the village too did not volunteer to assist them in the carrying out of final rites owing to fear of Covid-19. The deceased man’s wife said that they had been to a private clinic three days ago when he complained of a fever. “The doctors there voiced their suspicion of my husband having contracted Covid-19, and asked us to shift him to a hospital in Belagavi city. We reached out to the local government authorities to help us take him to Belagavi, but to no avail,” she said.

She added that the local health department personnel denied their request for an ambulance, thereby compelling them to carry the body in a bicycle to a graveyard, nearly 3km away from their home.
Official denies charges
Tahsildar of Kittur taluk, under the purview of which is MK Hubballi, Praveen Jain, however, denied the allegations. “Firstly, the elderly man was not registered as a Covid-19 patient. Moreover, the body was carried in a bicycle for only 100m, and a utility vehicle was provided thereafter. Although conducting the final rites is the responsibility of the family, we took cognisance of their circumstances and provided them with a utility vehicle,” Jain told TOI.