BHUBANESHWAR: The state government today maintained that Dana Majhi, who carried his wife's body on his shoulders for ten kilometers from the Bhawanipatna district headquarters hospital, did not seek any help from the hospital staff before leaving.
"Dana Majhi had never sought any help or ambulance like dead body carrier to any of the hospital staff in the night of August 23," minister of state for health and family welfare Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said in a written reply to question from Prafulla Majhi (Cong) in the assembly today.
Transportation arrangement is made in case of poor patients if approached from the chief minister's relief fund or by Rogi Kalyan Samiti or the Red Cross Fund, the minister said and added in the case of Dana Majhi, neither he nor anybody had sought any help or assistance, like dead body carrier, from any hospital staff.
The minister said since the staff nurse (contractual) on duty Rajendra Rana did not inform either to emergency officer on duty or the ward-in-charge doctor, he has been disengaged. Similarly, the security agency has been terminated for neither informing the above incident nor guarding premises properly, he said.
Dana Majhi, from Melghar village, located 60 km from the Kalahandi district headquarters town of Bhawanipatna, had hogged international headlines after the incident. The minister said the hospital authorities came to know about the incident next day at 9 AM (on August 24) when the doctor came on ward visit. "The patient was given adequate medical treatment and there was no negligence in treatment," Nayak said quoting the CDMO's report.
Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan has come down heavily on the state government for such a reply on the incident. The minister has shifted the entire responsibility from the incident by placing CDMO's report, he said.
What kind of a responsible government is this, Pradhan asked and criticised the state government for making the staff nurse and security agency scapegoats to shift responsibility.