Two Mahaprasthanam vehicles not enough to transport dead bodies
VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada government hospital is in need of more Mahaprasthanam vehicles. The two vehicles catering to both the old and new Government General Hospital is not enough to transport dead bodies. Till date, 67 dead bodies have been transported with the help of those two vehicles.
The main purpose behind this initiative is to shift dead bodies of those patients who availed treatment in the government hospitals and also died there. As part of this initiative, the State government launched 50 vehicles in all 13 districts of the State.
However, due to shortage of vehicles, majority of the patients are facing difficulty in fetching a Mahaprasthanam vehicle.On the condition of anonymity, a senior official of GGH Vijayawada, who looks after the Mahaprasthanam initiative said, “At present there are only two vehicles in the city and we hardly take 3-4 bodies per day while almost around 7-10 people would be dying everyday in both hospitals. Some people wait for our return, while some take private vehicles to shift the bodies. It will be nice if we get two more vehicles, as the main hospital in the city needs at least 4-5 vehicles.”
Ramanamma (name changed), who lost her husband on Wednesday, waited for almost three hours for the Mahaprasthanam vehicle to shift the dead body. “I am a construction labourer, hardly earning `200 per day. I cannot hire a private vehicle to shift the body of my husband as I cannot afford to pay `3,000. I have already run into debts for providing treatment to him. With no option left, I waited for Mahaprasthanam vehicle, which has already gone out to shift another body,” she added.
“Majority of the people dying in the government hospitals would be shifted through special vehicles organised by the State government. Our main intention of this programme is to reduce the burden of shifting the dead bodies for those families who are already in deep loss of losing their dear ones,” said RMO of GGH, Narasimha Naik.He further added that the initiative is free of cost, strict action will be taken against drivers asking money from families. A feedback form has also been provided to the people where they can complain about the driver or the service,”