HYDERABAD: People all over the world expressed empathy when Dana Majhi carried his wife, Amang Dei’s body on his shoulders to his hometown which was 60 km from the hospital in Odisha in September. In a similar incident, Ramulu pushed his wife’s dead body in a pushcart from Hyderabad to Vikarabad.
To help people out during such situations, the State government will introduce 50 hearses to carry dead bodies from government hospitals to their native places in the state.
The first convoy of 50 hearses will be flagged off from Gandhi Hospital by health minister C Laxma Reddy on Friday. According to sources, freezers will be made available in the vehicles to avoid bodies getting decomposed.
Meanwhile, Gandhi Hospital will be allotted 10 vehicles, another 10 to Osmania General Hospital, two to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), two each to MGM Hospital in Warangal, Palamuru, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences-Adilabad, Nizamabad, one each to Bhadrachalam, Mancherial, Gajwel, six to old district headquarters and 10 would be used based on need.
What happened earlier when families did not have money?
Several instances were reported when poor families abandoned bodies of their loved ones at the hospitals or were not financially capable to take the body to their home towns.
K Rajeshwar Rao, founder and general secretary of Satya Harishchandra Foundation which takes care of unclaimed bodies, said it was only on Wednesday that they performed funeral of four deceased, who were abandoned by their families at Government Chest Hospital in Erragadda. “We get cases where people do not have money to take bodies to home town. Around four months ago, a family from Nellore visited Hyderabad. One of them died at Gandhi Hospital. They were not financially capable to take the body to Nellore. So, we took it and performed the last rites in the city,” Rajeshwar Rao said.
Charges depend on the financial ability of people
Depending on the financial ability of the people, private hearse vehicle owners charge fare. The family from Nellore was asked Rs 10,000 for the body to be taken back.
Similarly, they charge anywhere between Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 if the body needs to be taken somewhere within the city limits.However, the charges go up if a patient suffers from AIDS or Tuberculosis.
Officials at Gandhi Hospital said they frequently get calls from politicians urging private hearses to be accomodated in the hospital limits. The state will also launch another set of vehicles titled ‘Amma Vadi’, a free-of-cost service, to take mother, new-borns, and a family member from govt hospital to their hometowns.