Odisha: Kin carry dead body for 5 km due to denial of mortuary van

Bhawanipatna: Family members of a deceased woman on Wednesday night carried her body on shoulder for five kilometres from Odisha’s Kalahandi district headquarters hospital to their village after the hospital authorities allegedly denied a hearse van, reports said on Thursday.

According to reports, Kuni Nayak of Barapali village under Lanjigarh block of the district was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday after she complained of high fever. However, she died while undergoing treatment last night.

Subsequently, the family members requested the hospital authorities to provide them a hearse van to take the dead body to their village. However, Nayak’s family members alleged that despite a prolonged wait they did not get the hearse van.

With no alternative, Nayak’s family members carried Kuni’s body on their shoulders and walked towards the village. After DHH authorities came to know about the incident, they immediately sent an ambulance. But, as Nayak’s family members had already covered a distance of 4 kilometres, they denied taking the vehicle to transport her body home.

Hospital authorities were yet to comment in connection with the incident.

It may be noted that like all state-run health institutions, the hospital has been brought under “Mo Sarkar” or My Govern-ment initiative for better and timely delivery of services. In October last year, CM Naveen Patn-aik’s transformation and initiatives department secretary V.K. Pandian had also visited the hospital in October to review the healthcare system.

However, the death of Kuni Nayak and the subsequent development has raised doubts on the implementation of the much-hyped initiative in the hospital.