Punjab: Unable to pay for ambulance, labourer forced to carry father's body on cart

Jalandhar: Yet another case of administrative apathy, this time in Punjab, came to fore when a labourer was compelled to carry his father's body on a cart as he was unable to pay Rs 400 to a private ambulance carrier.

After being denied an ambulance from the civil hospital, Sarabjeet's (son) relatives arranged for a cart, on which he carried his father's body. After some time, he took the body in an auto on Rs 150 rental.

"The driver of the ambulance demanded Rs 400, but I had no money to pay. Later, one of my relatives brought a cart and we took the body on it," said Sarabjeet.

Sarabjeet had admitted his father to the hospital on Sunday. His father died on Thursday. When he asked for an ambulance, the hospital informed him that it did not have ambulance service. He later called a private ambulance service provider, which demanded Rs 400.

The civil hospital administration said it only provide ambulance facility to bring patients to the hospital.

Medical superintendent Kamaljeet Singh Bawa said the hospital do not have facility to carry dead bodies back to their homes. However, he said the same has been conveyed to the government.

Incidents of administrative apathy continue to surface in Madhya Pradesh too. The latest to be reported was from the state's Sidhi district where a family was forced to strap the body of their dead son to a bamboo pole and transport it to the mortuary.

This happened because the Sidhi Municipal Corporation refused to provide a hearse van to them, saying drivers were not available.

Unfortunately, this has not happened for the first time in Sidhi district. Earlier also, a family had to carry a dead body for five kilometers to their home from the hospital as the mortuary vehicle service reportedly denied service to the poor in the area.