In yet another incident of administrative apathy, a family in Rajnandgaon (Chhattisgarh), grieving the loss of its 17-year-old daughter was forced to carry the dead body on a hand cart.
The shocking event took place on Sunday 2 July when the teenaged girl is said to have died of burn wounds sustained in an alleged suicide attempt. When the body was to undergo autopsy in the district hospital, the hospital staff allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 750. After a delayed postmortem, the hospital further delayed the transportation of the dead body by saying that the hearse van will be available only after an hour.
But the family members decided to hire a hand-cart to take the body to Bakhru Tola village.
This is not an isolated incident. Sadly, healthcare in India, is not considered an entitlement but the privilege of a few.
Look at this list of shocking incidents over the last few months, that show the civic administration’s apathy.
- 13 June 2017, Kaushambi: A man had to carry the corpse of his seven-month-old niece on bicycle for 10 km as hospital denied an ambulance.
- 25 August 2016, Kalahandi: Dana Majhi, a tribal in Odishahad to carry his wife’s body on his shoulders, for similar reasons.
- 22 March 2016, Sambalpur: Siblings were seen carrying mother’s corpse on a bullock cart.
- 20 April 2016, Rayagada: A father had to carry his daughter’s body on a trolley for cremation.
- 13 May 2016, Nabarangpur: 2 men carried a woman’s body on a bike.
- 28 July 2016, Puri: A man transported a dead body on cycle.
- 2 Sept 2016, Malkangiri: An ambulance dumped a dead child’s body along with its relatives, midway to the destination.
- 11 May 2017, Jalandhar: A man was forced to keep his father’s corpse on a ‘rehri’ for hours.
In November 2011, a high-level expert group report on universal health coverage blamed this on India’s inadequate public expenditure on health.
A report from August 2016, pertaining to the government’s National Health Accounts data of 2013-14 shows that: Only 4.5% of the current health expenses were spent on patient transportation.
Shamefully, India’s public health expenditure was 1.15% of its GDP in 2013–14. The draft National Health Policy 2015 emphasised that unless a country spends 5%–6% of its GDP on health, basic healthcare goals will not be met.
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