Kataka: The alleged harassment of a deceased patient’s family by touts and private ambulance operators at SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Kataka came to light Thursday after a woman’s body remained in the hospital’s New Medicine department for nearly three hours.
According to reports, an elderly woman from Kandhama la district had been admitted to the New Medicine department two days earlier. However, she died at around 8 am Thursday. While her son was making arrangements to take her body home, a hospital attendant allegedly asked him to remove it from the department immediately, stating that the hospital had no provision for keeping the bodies there.
Meanwhile, an unidentified person, suspected to be a tout, approached the family and offered to arrange a private vehicle. The woman’s son, however, said he wanted to transport the body in his own vehicle. At this point, the alleged tout and a private ambulance driver reportedly claimed that hospital rules did not permit the family to take the body in their own vehicle.
They allegedly pressured him to hire a private vehicle and pay `9,000 for the transportation. As the hospital attendant insisted on removing the body and the tout and ambulance driver allegedly surrounded the grieving son, the situation became tense. When he threatened to inform the police, the two men reportedly left the spot.
After the body remained in the department for nearly three hours, the son finally transported it to his native village in his own vehicle. The incident has once again raised questions over the alleged influence of touts and private ambulance operators on the hospital premises and the lack of effective action by the hospital authorities.