A woman's body was transported to her village by a privately-owned mini truck as the Kujang Government hospital denied providing a carrier. The incident occurred in Kujanga block on Monday.
One Sabita Mallick, a resident of Bhutamundei village under Kujang block, was bitten by a snake on Sunday night. The family members dialed for an 108 ambulance for shifting the patient to Kujanga CHC but the vehicle reached after three hours.
Due to delay in providing treatment, the woman died on the way and the doctor declared her brought dead. Now, the family members were worried over carrying the body to the village for the last rites. They contacted the hospital authority for arranging a dead body carrier but the latter did not pay any heed.
Later, they contacted a private dead body carrier which claimed Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 as charge for traveling a distance of 20 km. However, it was not within the reach of the family to afford. As a result, they arranged a mini truck for transporting the body, which was less expensive.
Meanwhile, the hospital authority refused to reply a query on implementation of the Mahaprayan Yojana. Notably, to benefit poor people, the Odisha Government had launched the Mahaprayan Yojana which is aimed at providing vehicles to carry dead body from hospital to house of the deceased free of cost. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had launched the scheme in 2016.