Malkangiri: It is yet another shocking case of government’s callousness to provide ambulance services to poor people in Odisha. A 108 ambulance on Friday allegedly left a seven-year-old girl midway to the Malkangiri district hospital after the child died near Nayakguda on the way.
The deceased, identified as Barsha Khemudu of Ghusapalli in the district, was being taken along with parents in the 108 Ambulance from the Mathili hospital from where the girl child was referred to the Malkangiri district headquarters hospital following deterioration in her health condition.
However, the 108 Ambulance driver asked the parents of the child to get down at Nayakguda after the girl died near Pandiani.
When the sobbing parents of the child holding the body of Barsha in their arms were passing near Nayakguda, locals asked the couple about the matter in detail.
“We pleaded with the ambulance driver not to drop us on the way. But he did not pay any heed to our appeal and left us at Nayakguda,” said Dinabandhu Khemundu, the deceased’s father.
Following this, the villagers contacted the local block development officer and medical authorities to get an ambulance to carry the body of the child to his village.
They also informed the collector K. Sudarshan Chakraborty who immediately sent an ambulance for carrying the body.
“This is a criminal act by the ambulance driver. I have asked the police to book him under appropriate law. Stringent action will be taken against him,” the collector Mr Chakraborty said.
Earlier, Dana Majhi, a resident of Melhghar in Kalahandi district had attracted national and international media attention for carrying his wife Amang Dei’s body on shoulders for 12 km from the district hospital to his village after an ambulance or hearse van was denied to him by the hospital authorities.
After an intervention by a local scribe, Dana Majhi got an ambulance to carry his wife’s body for another 50 km to his village.
