Taking suo motu cognisance of deteriorating Health services in UttarPradesh, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the UP government over media reports pointing towards lack of proper medicare facilities causing inconvenience to patients and their kin in the state.
The state government has been given four weeks time to submit a detailed report in the matter.
An NHRC communiqué released on Thursday afternoon said that in one of the incidents, a 70-year-old-man had to carry his ailing daughter-in-law on his arms for want of a stretcher in District Hospital at Mirzapur. The young woman was brought to the hospital on September 4, where doctors did not attend her for nearly five hours. She was then rushed to a private hospital only to be referred back to the District Hospital. The father-in-law was forced to carry her in his arms as there was no stretcher available. She was referred to Varanasi two days later where she died.
In another incident, an ambulance driver demanded Rs 1500 for carrying a body back to his village and the kin were forced to carry the body on a bike in Kasganj before some people arranged a private ambulance.
The third case in which the NHRC took suo motu cognizance was about a 12-year-old boy beng carried by the father on his shoulders due to non-availability of stretcher in a government hospital in Kanpur. The boy later died.
The Commission observed that it is the duty of the state to protect its citizens’ right to health care. The government hospitals are usually approached by the poor who cannot afford private treatment. Such incidents, where helpless kin are forced to carry loved ones on their shoulders for want of basic infrastructure, are indicative of violation of their right to dignity and sheer callous and negligent attitude of the authorities.