Daringbadi: A farmer was seen carrying the body of his three-year-old daughter on his shoulder as a vehicle was not made available for the purpose under the state government’s Mahaprayan Yojana Thursday.
His wife helplessly walked by his side carrying their belongings. The incident was reported in this town of tribal-dominated Kandhamal district.
According to sources, Balakrushna Pradhan of Demingia under this block admitted his daughter Ribika to Baliguda sub-divisional hospital after she fell ill Sunday. Doctors referred her to Berhampur-based MKCG Medical College and Hospital as her condition worsened.
Being a poor farmer, he failed to arrange money to take his daughter to MKCG. Even the hospital authorities declined to arrange an ambulance to ferry the patient, Pradhan alleged.
Later, he admitted the girl to a private hospital in Sorada. There too, the doctors referred her to MKCG for a CT scan. Pradhan somehow arranged money and admitted Ribika to MKCG Tuesday. He was accompanied by his wife Layajini and a relative.
After the girl was discharged, they returned to Daringbadi by a private bus Thursday. However, the girl breathed her last.
Left with no option, Pradhan wrapped the body in a shawl and carried it on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, a man named Tiadi Nayak came across the couple and extended them a helping hand. He made a phone call to block chairperson Susant Kumar Pradhan and apprised the latter of the matter.
However, no vehicle arrived to pick up the body though the couple waited there for two hours.
Finally, locals came to the rescue of the distressed family and hired an auto-rickshaw to ferry them to their village.
“I received a call but was engaged in some work,” the block chairperson said, adding the couple had left with the body by the time he reached the spot.
The local medical officer claimed he was unaware of the incident. PNN
