KOLKATA: Reminding the tragic incident of carrying wife’s body by Dana Majhi for 10 km in Odisha’s starvation-hit Kalahandi, similar heart-wrenching episode shook the people of Jalpaiguri town, a bustling urban pocket in north Bengal, when they saw an elderly man carrying his wife’s body with his son on their shoulders in the middle of the district headquarters.
Unable to arrange a hearse, Jaikrishna Dewan, with cash Rs 1,200 in his pocket, pleaded with folded hands, but none of the private ambulance drivers agreed to transport the body of his wife Lakhhirani (72). The father and son walked nearly two km in the middle of the town carrying the body of Lakhhirani. Finally, a social welfare organisation came forward and provided an ambulance to transport the body.
The homemaker of a daily wage earner family was admitted to Jalpaiguri Super Speciality Hospitality with respiratory problem on Wednesday. She suffered a cardiac arrest after two hours.Ramprasad Dewan said he had hired an ambulance to transport his ailing mother and the driver charged Rs 900 to travel the 40-km stretch, from his residence to the hospital.
“After my mother died, we requested for a hearse but the hospital authorities did not respond to our plea. We approached the drivers of the private ambulance drivers who were in front of the hospital with their vehicles and they charged Rs 3,000. My father had only Rs 1,200 in his pocket,’’ he said. Finding no way out, Jaikrishna and Ramprasad lifted the body of Lakhhirani, placed on their shoulders and started walking. “While coming out of the hospital, a section of staffs of the healthcare unit was busy recording the scene and taking photographs using their cellphones instead of coming forward to help us,’’ said Ramprasad.
As the father and son started walking along the road in the town, the photographs and videos of the tragic incident went viral. Members of a welfare organisation came to know about the incident and they rushed to the Jaikrishna and Ramprasad. The body was boarded in an ambulance brought by the organisation and transported to Dewan family’s residence.
As the heart wrenching episode drew a flak, the district health department ordered a probe. “A five-member investigation team has been formed to find out why the family did not receive any help from the state-run hospital. An counter to assist patients’ relatives operates 24 hours in every hospital. We will find out what went wrong,’’ said an official.