Bhopal: A man injured in a road accident had to be carried to the hospital in a bulldozer in Madhya Pradesh -- a BJP-ruled state which has a sizeable health budget. The incident took place in Katni in central Madhya Pradesh. The locals said they had informed the authorities and waited more than half-an-hour for an ambulance. Finally seeing the man was losing too much blood, they had to improvise.
Mahesh Burman, a resident of nearby Gairtalai, was injured after his bike collided with another two-wheeler.
When an ambulance failed to arrive even after 30 minutes, Pushpendra Vishwakarma, who drove the construction machine, volunteered to take him to the hospital. The accident had taken place outside his shop, he said.
The video of the man being carried in the bulldozer was widely circulated.
Mr Burman has fractured a leg. After first aid, he was referred to the district hospital.
This is not an isolated incident in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, videos from various parts of the state showed people being taken to hospital in push carts, cycles and even physically carried by other people.
Last month, the authorities started an investigation after a video emerged from Damoh district showing a man carrying his pregnant wife to hospital in a push cart.
Kailash Ahirwal said he had called the "Dial 108" government ambulance service after his wife started having labour pains. But no ambulance came for over two hours.
He also alleged that when they reached the government-run Arogya Kendra after the two-km journey, they found no doctor or nurse.
Later, his wife was shifted to Hatta by a government ambulance. But in absence of proper facilities there, she had to be taken to the Damoh district hospital.
The problem in ambulance access persists despite the government's announcements about an increase in the number of vehicles.
In April, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, at a function, announced the number has gone up from 1,445 to 2,052. The number of Advanced Life Support Vehicles was also increased from 75 to 167. Basic Life Support Ambulances, whose number was 531, was increased to 835.
In March, researchers at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis of the state government, said the Dial 108 ambulance service -- on which government spends Rs 220 crore a year -- is unable to serve as many as 53 cases daily in each district.
The number of patients who have to resort to private ambulances is 10 lakh a year.