PHULBANI: Not just shambolic, healthcare system in Odisha continues to carry its insensitive baggage despite claims of reforms. Sample this: In the district headquarters hospital of Kandhamal on June 30, a man had to carry his dead wife in his arms to the waiting hearse van because hospital staff would not bother.
Three days after the incident, the district health administration suspended three staff of the DHH and issued an explanation. Chief District Medical Officer Dr Rajashree Patnaik suspended a staff nurse and an attendant besides, dismissing a help desk assistant on Friday.An anaemic Rutumati Kanhor (40), wife of Balakrishna Kanhor of Motingia village under Phiringia block was admitted to the female ward on June 29. She, however, died during treatment on Wednesday. Balakrishna finished the formalities and called for the Mahaprayan van to take her body home.
While the van was parked outside the hospital, he sought help of the hospital staff to take the body to the vehicle but none agreed. Helpless, Balakrishna carried Rutumati’s body in his arms from the ward on the first floor through the staircase and placed it on a stretcher at the ground floor before dragging it to the hearse.
When he found it difficult to the lift the body on to the van, Rutumati’s father who was carrying the couple’s one-year-old child put the baby on the floor and helped his son-in-law in placing the body inside. And all this while, hospital staff and the public stood unmoved while some recorded the incident in their mobile phones instead of coming to their aid. The video hit the social media and went viral.
When the matter came to the notice of the CDMO, she suspended nurse Mamina Patra, attendant in the ward Priyanka Mukhi and dismissed help desk assistant Ajit Kumar Kanhor who are supposed to coordinate in shifting of bodies.The CDMO also instructed other employees of the DHH to remain vigilant in such type of sensitive cases.