Ambulance inhumanness: Sister brings brother’s body home tied on taxi’s roof

PNS/ PITHORAGARH

In latest news from Uttarakhand, bringing to light the pathetic state of the ambulance service when it comes to the mountainous areas of the State, a woman had to take the body of her brother to her home in Berinag in Pithoragarh district tied on the roof of a taxi she had hired from Haldwani. She had to take this desperate decision after the ambulance service employees demanded her to cough up Rs 15,000 for transporting the body. Taking a stern note of the incident, the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami ordered a high-level inquiry.

Shivani, hailing from Berinag, works from Haldwani. She also had brought her brother Abhishek to Haldwani and arranged a job for him. While working, Abhishek told her he was having a bad headache and left for their rented accommodation. In the evening, Shivani called him on his mobile phone repeatedly but he did not receive the calls. Police then informed her that her brother’s body had been found lying on railway tracks. He was rushed to Susheela Tiwari Government Hospital where he was declared brought dead. After autopsy, the body was handed over to her. And then her ambulance ordeal began.

As the ambulance service employees refused to take the body to Berinag without being paid Rs 15,000, she hired a taxi. With the body tied on the vehicle’s roof, she finally took it home after travelling 195 kms in that state.

The anguished CM made it clear that he would not brook such inhumanness and directed the State health secretary R Rajesh Kumar to probe the mater thoroughly and fix accountability.