Bike ride for dead boy after UP hospital refuses ambulance

For many onlookers and passersby, it looked like a case of triple riding. In reality, however, the young boy sitting in the middle was dead.

In an incident reflective of the sorry state of affairs of health services in Uttar Pradesh, the kin of a young boy, who died after a mound of mud caved in burying him alive, had to carry the dead body on a motorbike after the hospital allegedly refused to provide an ambulance in the state's Sambhal district, about 450 km from here.

According to reports, 18-year-old Suraj Pal was working in the fields at Sadatbari village with his grandfather, when a mound of mud caved in burying him under it on Thursday. He was rushed to the district hospital but could not be saved.

The kin alleged that the doctors asked them to take away the body immediately but did not provide ambulance despite their pleadings.

The kin then carried the body to their native village on a motorbike. The dead boy was supported between the bike rider and his pillion, who held the body tightly.

''We kept on pleading with the doctors for ambulance....they did not even provide a stretcher,'' alleged Harish Chandra Pal, the victim's grandfather.

Another incident

The hospital authorities denied the allegations and claimed that the kin left without informing them.

Barely a few months back, a man had cycled 10 km with the body of his seven-month-old niece to his village from a government hospital in Kaushambi district in the state after he failed to get an ambulance or a hearse van to take home the body.