In an incident quite identical with the 2016 Dana Majhi case, a 70-year-old man from Sakhigopal in Odisha’s Puri district on Friday paddled his sick wife for 90 kms on a rented trolley rickshaw after he failed to hire an auto-rickshaw to take her for treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack.
Identified as Kabir Bhoi, the man had initially admitted his wife Sukanti at the Puri district headquarters hospital (DHH). The doctors at the DHH advised him to shift his wife to SCB Medical in Cuttack as her health condition continued to deteriorate.
As he did not have money to take Sukanti to Cuttack, Kabir brought her back home. However, when Sukanti’s health worsened on Friday, he hired a trolley rickshaw at Rs 50 per day and paddled all the way from Sakhigopal to Cuttack.
On Saturday morning, the couple was spotted near OMP Square in Cuttack by some social activists and journalists. The social activists and scribes helped Kabir get his wife admitted at SCB Hospital.
Narrating his ordeal, Kabir said “I tried to arrange an auto-rickshaw for my wife but they demanded Rs 1200 to drop us to Cuttack. Having no other alternative, I hired a trolley rickshaw and brought her to the hospital.”
“I have been suffering due to Sukanti’s health since the last one year. This time the journey was painful and tiring, I hope she will get better treatment in SCB,” added Kabir.
Social worker Abhimanyu Das who helped the couple at the hospital, informed that Sukanti’s hands and legs have swelled due to which she is not able to walk.
SCB Medical College and Hospital superintendent Dr Bhubanananda Maharana said Sukanti would be given treatment free of cost.
In August 2016, Dana Majhi, a poor man of Kalahandi in Odisha, walked 16 km carrying body of his wife on shoulders as he was allegedly denied a mortuary van. The incident had then drawn international attention.
