File photo

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The family members of a 60-year-old woman were forced to ferry her body on a bike to their village as they were not provided an ambulance in Rewa district late on Tuesday night.

The woman, Shyamwati Jaiswal, a resident of Mach Khohar village, was bitten by a snake. The family members approached 108-emergency medical service.

The woman was later taken to a community health centre in Mauganj town of the district in an ambulance. She was declared dead there.

The family members including her husband Udaybhan Jaiswal approached the community health centre’s doctors and requested them to arrange an ambulance so that they can take the body to village. But the doctors, as family members claim, refuted.

The family members later wrapped the body in a polythene cover and put it on a bike and took it to the village.

Talking to journalists, Udaybhan Jaiswal claimed that doctors refused to help him get an ambulance. “I requested them to arrange a vehicle, but they said there is no vehicle available. Therefore, we carried the body on bike,” he said.

A video also went viral on social media on Wednesday.

When contacted, Rewa Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr ML Gupta said family members didn’t approach doctors. “There is no vehicle available at CHC. Therefore, family members have to inform us. We then approach district administration to provide the vehicle. But in this case, family members didn’t inform us,” he told Free Press over the phone.

District collector Ilayaraja T refused to comment.