BHUBANESWAR/BALASORE:Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena on Thursday ordered a probe into the alleged dropping of a dead body on the road by an ambulance driver when the attendant expressed inability to pay.
Jena has asked Balasore Collector Pramod Kumar Das to investigate the matter and submit a report. Preliminary investigation revealed that neither 102 nor 108 ambulance was involved in the incident.
The driver of a private ambulance had allegedly dropped an elderly man’s body at Paikali near Soro in Balasore district after the attendant of the deceased failed to pay him. A daily wager, Rehman Khan of Chintamanipada village under Soro police limits, fell ill on Wednesday. A neighbour, Tuni Behera, rushed him to the District Headquarters Hospital where he succumbed in the morning.
She approached a private ambulance to bring the body back to his village. However, the driver abandoned the body when she expressed inability to pay for the service. Later, villagers took the body to a nearby burial ground and buried it.
In another incident, crew of 102 ambulance in Sinapali area was dismissed from service and a driver of 108 ambulance in Bhanjanagar area placed under suspension after they were found guilty during a probe.
While driver of the 102 ambulance had taken `500 from husband of a pregnant woman to shift her to the hospital, another pregnant woman was forced to deliver baby on the verandah of Bhanjanagar hospital as 108 ambulance did not respond to a call to shift her to MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur. Following the direction from Director of National Health Mission, disciplinary action has been taken against both the crew members, a health official said.
Man carries wife to CHC on trolley
Kendrapara: A daily wager was forced to carry his 32-year-old wife on a trolley to the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Mahakalapada in the district on Wednesday after he failed to get any response from 108 ambulance service. Ahalya Das, wife of Gurucharana of Kiarabanka village, was suffering from fever for the last few days. She became serious on Wednesday and Gurucharana, with the help of a few villagers, called up 108 ambulance service. He, however, did not get any response. He then decided to carry her on a trolley to the CHC, which is 3 km away from the village. CDMO Baishanba Sahoo said the 108 service providers informed that no ambulance was sought from Gurucharana.