Video Editor: Prajjwal Kumar
A video of eight-year-old Gulshan sitting with the body of his dead brother in his arms, from Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, has yet again exposed the apathetic state of India's rural healthcare infrastructure.
This happened when the father of the two boys was desperately trying to arrange for an ambulance – and had to leave them waiting next to the drainage wall. The younger brother, Raja, had succumbed earlier in the day to water retention in his stomach.
In our latest video in the series 'Harr Viral Video Kuch Kehta Hai..', we look into what led to the disturbing video – and how this is hardly a standalone case of the failure of rural healthcare, at least in Madhya Pradesh.
But How Did 8-Year-Old Gulshan End Up With His Brother’s Body in His Lap?
On 10 July, two-year-old Raja fell ill in Morena district's Badfara village. His father, Poojaram Jatav, rushed him to a local hospital from where he was referred to the Morena district hospital.
“The local doctor advised me to give my son Eno (drug for indigestion) and rub hing on his belly. I gave him Eno and put the Hing on his belly. But yesterday (9 July), he could neither pass stool nor urinate. He was crying in pain – 'Papa, Papa'.”Poojaram
Poojaram’s wife had left him a few months ago – and he had been looking after his four children. Raja was the youngest of them.
But Poojaram’s ordeal didn’t end here.
There was no ambulance or a hearse van to take him home. The hospital staff advised Poojaram to rent a private ambulance. However, a mechanic by profession, Poojaram couldn't afford the ambulance fare of Rs 2,000.
Grieving the death of his child, he then left his older son Gulshan with Raja's body while he frantically searched for a cheaper option. It was around two hours later that some passersby informed the local police, who arranged for an ambulance to take Raja's body home.
Gulshan's Video Is Another Reminder of the Apathetic State of Rural Health Infrastructure in India
In the last few months, there were at least two such cases in Madhya Pradesh where families were forced to carry the dead bodies of loved ones on carts, cots, and even in their arms.
In June, the Ahirwar family from Chhatarpur district were forced to walk back with the corpse of four-year-old girl, Radha, after they were told about the unavailability of an ambulance.
The family took turns carrying the girl's dead body as they walked in the scorching heat.
"The girl fell ill and we were told by the doctors to take her to Damoh. So we rushed her to Morena, but she didn't survive. There was no ambulance or hearse van available. We wrapped her up in a blanket and brought her to Chhatarpur via bus. When we enquired for a hearse van at the district hospital here, the staff said there's none available."Mansukh Ahirwar, Radha's grandfather
In another case, family members of a pregnant woman were forced to carry her on a cot due to the unavailability of an ambulance.
The woman died on the way to the hospital.
According to a report by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute Of Good Governance and Policy Analysis (a government institute), on an average, 53 emergency calls go unattended by the 108 ambulance services in each district of Madhya Pradesh.
As a result, the number of patients forced to 'access private ambulances' is about 10 lakh every year.
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