A poor farm worker had to carry the body of his daughter on his own shoulders after the doctors at the Ib Thermal Hospital denied him an ambulance.
At around 10 am on Friday, Bhaskar Panch Bhaya of Remanda village and his wife Anjali brought their daughter named Manini who was suffering from severe diarrhoea and dysentery to the Ib Thermal Hospital.
Her condition was severe and while undergoing treatment, she lost her life. After her demise, when Bhaskar and his wife requested the on-duty Dr Bl Biswal for an ambulance to take the body of the child to their village which is about 12 km away, they were told that the hospital has no such facility.
On way back home, Bhaskar had no way out but to fetch the body on his shoulder. However, when some villagers saw it, they called the EO of Belpahar Municipality. After that, the district Collector and the CDMO were also informed of the incident.
later, the municipality authorities sent an ambulance.
When contacted, CDMO Damayanti Sahoo said that although the Ib Thermal Hospital is not a Government hospital, he has given verbal orders for an inquiry to the OPGC management to investigate why there is no facility of an ambulance at their hospital.