Unable to pay Rs 400, man forced to carry dad's body on cart in Punjab

Incidents of people forced to carry their kin's dead bodies are in rising in the country after the hospital or the mortuary service denies vehicles to carry the deceased to their homes.

Jalandhar, May 13: In yet an another incident of hospital denial of an ambulance, a man in Punjab was forced to carry his father's body on a cart after he was denied ambulance for not paying Rs 400.

A man identified as Sarabjeet was denied an ambulance after he unable to pay Rs 400 to a private ambulance carrier to carry his father's body. The relatives then arranged a cart on which the deceased was carried till Sarabjeet hired an auto-rickshaw for Rs 150.

I was asked to pay Rs 400, which I didn't have. On seeing my situation, one of my relatives arranged a cart and we took the mortal remains on it," Sarabjeet said.

Sarabjeet said that his father was admitted to hospital on Sunday, who then died on Thursday.

To carry the mortal remains of his father, Sarabjeet demanded an ambulance to which the hospital authorities said that it does not have ambulance service.

Left with the only option, he called the private ambulance which demanded Rs 400.
According to reports, the civil hospital authorities said that they provide an ambulance to bring patients to the hospital.

Hospital official Kamaljeet Singh Bawa said that the hospital does not have a facility to carry the deceased to their homes and the same was conveyed to the government.

Recently in Madhya Pradesh, a family was forced to strap the body of their dead son to a bamboo pole and shift it to the mortuary. This incident took place in Sidhi government hospital after the district municipal corporation refused to provide them with an ambulance. The Sidhi Municipal corporation authorities had said that the drivers were not available.

The deceased was identified as Munesh Kol who died hours after consuming liquor.
Reports reveal that this was not the first incident in Sidhi district, Earlier, a family was forced to carry the body for five kilometres to their home as the mortuary service vehicle reportedly was denied to the poor in the area.

OneIndia News