Unable to pay for ambulance, Bengal man travels in bus with child’s body

Reacting to the incident during a press briefing at the Nabanna on Monday, the chief minister said, “It is better if such incidents do not happen…There should not be a shortage of ambulances (at a hospital). There were three ambulances at the hospital, maybe all three were busy with other work. We are looking into the incident.”

The incident has prompted a war of words between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP MLA from Nandigram Suvendu Adhikari tweeted a purported video of the alleged incident on Sunday and said it reflected the “true” state of the CM’s “Egiye Bangla” (advanced Bengal) model. The TMC also hit back at the opposition party and accused it of doing “dirty politics”.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Debsharma had said, “My child died on Saturday night at North Dinajpur’s North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. I had already spent Rs 16,000 on the treatment and was left with no money. The ambulance drivers demanded Rs 8,000 to take us back home. With no money left, I packed my son’s body in a bag and took the bus from medical college back to Kaliaganj.”

Sources said Debsharma’s twin boys fell ill on May 7 and they were admitted to Kaliaganj State General Hospital. “They were brought in with respiratory issues among other problems and were later referred to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for further treatment. On May 11, Debsharma’s wife and one of his sons went back home after the hospital discharged him. On Saturday, his other son died,” said a hospital source.

According to reports, Debsharma said he boarded a private bus from Siliguri to Raiganj and then took another bus to reach his hometown in Dangipara village under Mustafa Nagar gram panchayat in Kaliaganj town in Uttar Dinajpur district. He travelled for about 200 kilometres before reaching home.

Debsharma claimed that he put the body in a bag and travelled by bus to Kaliaganj, without letting anyone know, fearing that he would be deboarded if the co-passengers or the staff became aware of it. He claimed that an ambulance driver under the 102 scheme told him that the facility was free for patients, but not for transporting bodies.

Sources said on reaching the Vivekananda trisection in Kaliaganj, Debsharma sought help from a few locals and arranged for an ambulance which helped him take his son’s body home.

Dean of North Bengal Medical College Sandip Sengupta said, “A six-month-old baby died on Saturday. The infant’s family claimed that when they wanted to take the body home for cremation, the ambulance driver demanded a huge amount of money, but they didn’t approach the administration after that. It is a serious matter. There is nothing to take it lightly. We definitely want a strong inquiry into it.”

As purported videos of the alleged incidents went viral on social media, Opposition leaders hit out at the Bengal government. “This is Ashim Debsharma; father of a five-month-old infant who died in a medical college in Siliguri. He was being charged Rs. 8000/- to transport the body of his child. Unfortunately after spending Rs.16,000/- in the past few days during the treatment, he couldn’t pay the money. So, he kept the dead body of the child in a bag & boarded a public bus to go back to his home at Mustafanagor village in Kaliyaganj; Uttar Dinajpur district. Let’s not get into technicalities, but is this what “Swasthya Sathi” has achieved? This is unfortunately the true portrayal of the “Egiye Bangla” model,” Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendhu Adhikari tweeted on Sunday.

Hitting back, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen accused the BJP of trying to “play dirty politics with the unfortunate death of a child”.

“It’s definitely an inhuman incident. MSVP and the dean of the hospital are already looking into it. This is the only state in India where all people get free health facilities. As the Leader of Opposition continues to do politics over dead bodies, I would like to remind him that recently a man died after being hit by a vehicle which was part of his convoy. He didn’t even stop to take him to the hospital and we all know that he died,” said Sen.

BJP leader Rahul Sinha said, “She (Mamata Banerjee) makes such tall claims. The government claims to have constructed multi-speciality hospitals where many get facilities for free…We have returned to the era where people don’t have vehicles to carry a body. Mamata Banerjee should see what is the condition of this state.”

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “A father is carrying his child’s body because an ambulance is charging Rs 8,000 in a state, where the CM claims all health facilities are free, is unthinkable.”

In January, a similar incident was reported in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal when a man had to carry his mother’s body on his shoulders after an ambulance demanded Rs 3,000 from him. The man, identified as Ram Prasad Dewan, walked for about 50 kilometres from Jalpaiguri Medical College and Hospital to his residence under Kranti block in Jalpaiguri district with his elderly father. — With PTI inputs