The incident of a man carrying the body of his daughter in Naidupeta mandal in Tirupati district created a flutter on Friday, amidst allegations that the ambulance staff at the local government hospital had refused to transport the body to their native village nearby.
According to information, on Thursday evening, two siblings – Akshaya(2) and Sravanth(5) – of Kothapalli village of Doravarisatram mandal had fallen into a gravel pond while playing nearby. The locals rescued the duo, and they were rushed to the government hospital at Naidupeta, 15 km away from the mishap spot. While Akshaya was declared brought dead, the other child was later declared safe.
Later, the father had sought the assistance of the staff of a 108 ambulance vehicle to shift the body of the girl to Kothapalle village on Friday morning.
At this, the ambulance staff had reportedly declined to transport the body but assured him that they would make some alternative arrangements. Before any arrangement was made, the father had reportedly left the hospital premises, carrying his child’s body on a motorbike, assisted by a relative.
Inquiry ordered
Responding to speculation that a Tirupati-SVRR type of episode had been repeated in Naidupeta, Tirupati Collector K. Venkataramana Reddy told The Hindu that the father had left the hospital compound without informing the duty staff.
Mr. Venkataramana Reddy said that except for casually asking the ambulance staff for transporting his child’s body to the native village, the father had not contacted anyone there. “It is observed that the father was in a hurry to leave the place, fearing that it may be subjected to postmortem. When this was going on, the doctors were attending to the other child. A thorough inquiry is ordered into the incident with senior medical officers,” the Collector added.
More number of “Maha Prasthanam” vehicles sought
The Collector said that proposals were sent to the State government for providing more “Maha Prasthanam” vehicles for free transport of the bodies from the hospitals to their respective villages.
“The wrong on the part of ambulance drivers was glaring in the SVRR Hospital episode in Tirupati, but there is absolutely nothing to fault the doctors at Naidupeta hospital. In Tirupati, we have deployed four vehicles for transportation of bodies in case of any financial difficulty to the family members,” the official said.
