The children carried their father's dead body for 8 kms after they were denied ambulance. (ANI)
A differently-abled son and his sister were forced to carry the body of their father on a rickshaw after they were denied a hearse van.
The children carried their 50-year-old father's dead body after Trivediganj Community Health Centre (CHC) in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki town refused to provide them help, leaving them with no option but to carry their father's body to their home nearly eight kilometres away on the cart.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. R.Chandra said they had only two vans available for the entire district. "We have 2 hearse vans at district level. The facility isn't available at CHC(Community Health Centre) level and body can't be taken in an ambulance," he said.
This incident is one of many, wherein people from poor families in the far-flung districts have often been forced to carry the bodies of their loved ones on their shoulders or carts for miles because the health centres had failed to provide them with the hearse vans.
In March, a 37-year-old man was reported to have carried his sick wife on a handcart for around 8 kms after he was allegedly denied an ambulance. The woman was declared brought dead on arrival at the
Maharaja Tej Singh District Hospital in Mainpuri.
Later, he was allegedly denied a hearse van to take the body back home on the handcart.
(with inputs from agencies)