Odisha: Father carries daughter's body after ambulance throws them out

Bhubaneshwar: A man was forced to carry his seven-year-old daughter’s body on Friday as the ambulance transporting them to Odisha’s Malkangiri district hospital allegedly left them midway after learning the girl had died.

The shocking incident comes barely a week after a man carried his wife’s dead body for 10 kilometers while trying to reach a hospital in Kalahandi.

Barsha Khemudu of Ghusapalli in Malkangiri had died while her parents were transferring her from Mithali hospital to Malkangiri district hospital after her health deteriorated.

“The driver asked us to get down from the ambulance as soon as he came to know about the girl’s death on the way,” Dinabandhu Khemudu, the girl’s father, said.

The matter came to light when locals saw Khemudu and his wife walking carrying the body. They contacted the local block development officer and medical authorities to arrange another vehicle for the family.

Meanwhile, Malkangiri district collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy asked the chief district medical officer Uday Shankar Mishra to investigate the matter. Mishra has filed an FIR at Malkangiri police station against the driver. A pharmacist and an attendant who were in the ambulance were also charged.

“It was totally illegal and criminal negligence on the part of the driver. Stringent action will be taken against persons responsible for the incident,” Chakravarthy told reporters, adding the district administration has provided immediate financial assistance to the girl’s parents.

Calling the incident “inhuman”, Mishra said he had sent another vehicle to the location which dropped the girl’s family at their village.

On August 24, Dana Majhi had to walk about 10 kms from Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district along with his teenage daughter carrying his wife’s body on his shoulders after he was allegedly denied a hearse by the Kalahandi district hospital.