Man carries wife’s body in arms from hospital, show-cause issued to four

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Friday ordered an inquiry on why a man had to carry his wife’s body in his arms from the Kandhamal district headquarters hospitals to a hearse van on Wednesday following her death. The Kandhamal district administration also issued a show-cause notice to four hospital workers on the lapse.
Sources said the woman Rutumati Kanhar (40), a native of Motingia village under Phiringia block of Kandhamal district, 35km from the hospital, died on Wednesday. She was admitted for some illness on Tuesday. Finding no help, her husband Balakrushna Kanhar lifted her body in his hands and alighted from the female medicine ward on the first floor through the staircase even as the hospital staff remained mute spectators. On the ground floor, he placed the body on a stretcher (without wheel, which is supposed to be carried by two persons on either side) and took her to the hearse van, parked 200 metres away.
The woman’s one-year-old child was temporarily left to himself at a corner on the first floor by his father during the shifting process. The woman’s elderly father helped him load the body in the van.
Quoting preliminary findings, Kandhamal chief district medical and public health officer Rajashree Patnaik said after his wife’s death the man seems to have panicked and taken her body downstairs on his own. “We have issued show-cause notice to the staff nurse who was on duty, the ward attendant, helpdesk person who is supposed to coordinate with the hearse van and the sweeper. They have been given 48 hours to reply. Further disciplinary action will be taken after their reply,” she said.