Couple ride 40km with dead child

A TRIBAL couple in India rode about 40km on a motorcycle with the body of their dead son.

The mother carried their minor son’s body to their village in Maharashtra.

The incident happened this week when the 6-year-old child succumbed to acute pneumonia at the government’s sub-district facility, Cottage Hospital in Jawhar.

After completing the hospital formalities, the distraught parents attempted to engage an ambulance to help transport their son’s body back home to the remote Sadakwadi village, around 40km away.

However, at least three ambulances refused to help and the hospital authorities did not have a hearse van, usually deployed for moving bodies.

Confirming the development, Cottage Hospital chief medical officer Dr Ramdas Marad said that ambulances were generally prohibited from transporting the dead.

“But, I was prepared to help the family given the late hour and the very cold weather.

“I summoned a private ambulance, which demanded a large sum of money which the family could not afford,” Marad said.

He said the 142-bed Cottage Hospital had no hearse van and alternative transport was not available despite all efforts.

When the hospital authorities suggested the couple should wait until the morning, they reportedly refused fearing that their son would be subjected to an autopsy.

The medicos assured them that since the boy had died of natural causes, there was no need for a post-mortem, but the couple were adamant and insisted on returning home despite the chill that night.

Finally, just before midnight, the couple carefully wrapped their dead son’s body in a couple of sheets, donned thick blankets themselves and left for home.

They reached their tiny dwelling in the Sadakwadi village in the early hours of Wednesday as the 73rd Republic Day dawned all over the country.

The last rites of the boy were performed with the entire tribal hamlet in mourning while the nation erupted in celebrations.

Marad said because the incident sparked huge outrage in the district, the hospital and district health authorities ordered a probe and recommended the immediate dismissal of the three ambulance drivers, hired from a contracting firm.

Vivek Pandit, the founder of Shramjeevi Sanghatana, an organisation working for tribal welfare, said such incidents were not uncommon in remote tribal areas of Palghar, Nandurbar and other tribal belts which lack health facilities.

“This is merely one instance which has come in public glare. The situation in the far-flung, forested or hilly areas is very alarming, they have no curative facilities, doctors, gynaecologists, nurses, ambulances, medicines but the government seems to be ignoring it,” said Pandit, a former legislator.

A health department official said the government would soon order a hearse van and an ambulance for the sub-district hospital. |