BHOPAL: In a shocking incident, a tribal family from the Dindori district, was left with no option, but to carry the body of their low birth weight (LBW) newborn child in a bag, allegedly after being denied a vehicle by the staff at the government medical college in Jabalpur on Thursday.
The newborn’s family, while saying that the newborn died during medical treatment at the medical college hospital, has alleged that the staff didn’t provide them with a hearse vehicle to carry the body home to Dindori district (around 160 km away) forcing them to carry the body in a bag by a private bus.
On the other hand, a senior health department official in Jabalpur district has claimed that the newborn child, which was under treatment at the medical college hospital’s special newborn care unit (SNCU) didn’t die at the hospital, as the child had been discharged alive at the family’s request.
The child’s father Sunil Dhurve told journalists in Dindori on Friday that the child was born at the government hospital in the native Dindori district on June 13, but owing to the serious condition, the child was referred to the state government medical college in Jabalpur on June 14.
“The baby was subsequently admitted to the medical college in Jabalpur but died on Thursday (June 15). We requested the medical college hospital staff to provide an ambulance/hearse van for taking the child’s body home in Dindori district, but they denied any vehicle saying there was no such provision. We’re poor labourers and didn’t have Rs 4000 to Rs 5000 to hire a private vehicle to take the body home. We subsequently kept our child’s body in a bag and came to Dindori by a private bus from Jabalpur,” Dhurve alleged.
However, the Jabalpur district’s chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr Sanjay Mishra had a different saga to tell. “As per what has been told to me by the medical college dean and hospital superintendent, the newborn was LBW, so the baby was referred from the government hospital in Dindori to the government medical college in Jabalpur on June 14. The child was under treatment at the medical college’s hospital’s SNCU. However, just six hours after being admitted at the SNCU, despite doctors’ requests to allow the treatment to go on at a special pediatric care facility, the family insisted on taking the baby home. The doctors subsequently had to discharge the baby on the family’s request (leave against medical advice-LAMA). The child died thereafter outside the hospital, possibly due to excessive heat-induced dehydration. No ambulance or vehicle was sought by the family to take the child home, while it was discharged alive on their request.”
Dr Mishra, however, added that a probe will be done into the matter following the family’s allegations.
This isn’t the first time that a hearse vehicle/ambulance has been denied by a public health facility in MP, to any needy family to carry their dead patient home.
Similar incidents of bodies of patients being carried by their kin on cycles, motorbikes, hand-pulled carts and makeshift slings on being denied vehicles by government health facilities have been reported in the past from various other districts, including Shahdol, Sidhi, Singrauli and Morena districts.