G.Udayagiri: In yet another example of failure of Mahaprayan scheme in interiors districts of the state, the hearse deployed at G. Udayagiri government hospital has been lying unused owing to lack of a driver.
This happens, while bodies of the deceased are ferried in ambulances leading to choked up schedules and limited availability of those vehicles.
In a recent incident Friday, tension ran high at the hospital after family members of a deceased woman could not avail a hearse or an ambulance to take the body to their village. Worse, afraid of government action, the hospital authorities didn’t let them take the body on their own either. The issue was sorted following the intervention of local cops and after an ambulance was arranged for them.
Even though the hospital has a dedicated hearse that was procured at a cost of Rs 7 lakh from the former MP’s MPLAD fund, it has been lying unused for six months now owing to lack of a driver.
When contacted, hospital in-charge Sashikant Mallick said that the hospital is short of funds to employ a driver to run the vehicle. That said, he also assured to convene a meeting under the chairmanship of the block development officer (BDO) Aug 20 to take a call on the issue.
