The incident occurred at the district headquarters hospital at Bhawanipatna where 42-year-old Amang Dei was being treated for tuberculosis and died, Odisha TV reported. I pleaded with them saying I am a poor person and can not afford a vehicle to carry my wife’s body. “I kept requesting them but they said they could not help”, Mr Majhi said to a television crew that found him.
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B Brahma told Indian Express “we would surely have sent the body in a vehicle” and added that 12,000 rupees (£135) had been set aside for Mr Majhi, from the government and Red Cross.
Majhi, who revealed that his village was 60km (37 miles) away and he couldn’t afford to hire a vehicle, had to walk 10km until an ambulance vehicle was finally organised to take the three of them to the rest of their – 60km – destination.
She said preliminary report suggested that the tribal man took the dead body without informing the hospital authorities. “Despite repeated requests, they said they can not offer any help”, Majhi told a local television channel.
As per the “Mahaparayana” scheme, helpers are supposed to be deployed at 37 government hospitals and 40 vehicles allotted for the goal.
By the time an ambulance arrived, courtesy of local youths who alerted officials, Mr Majhi had walked over seven miles towards his home in Melghar village.
District Collector of Kalahandi – Brunda D said that we spoke to the CDMO as we got to know of the incident and arranged for an ambulance.
The state of Odisha had launched a special scheme in February to provide a free service to transport bodies from government hospitals, but the service was not reportedly offered to the grieving family.
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Senior BJP leader and MLA Radharani Panda said the welfare schemes announced by the state government were ineffective and meaningless as their benefits were not reaching the targeted people.
