Bhawanipatna: In the wake of the shocking incident in which a poor tribal carried the body of his wife on his shoulders from the district headquarters hospital in Kalahandi this morning, the sub collector Sukant Tripathy submitted his preliminary report to the collector later in the day.
“As directed by the district collector, I have submitted a preliminary report. After discussing with concerned departments and staffs in the hospital, I will submit a report to him. Later the collector will prepare a final report and submit to the state government. Since this case has a number of technical aspects, the collector will take a decision after a thorough review of these aspects”, he told media persons here.
Asked to comment on the incident, Tripathy said since the investigation is underway, it would not be proper to say anything at the moment.
Kalahandi CDMO Brajakishore Brahma said Dana Majhi took away his wife in the late night without informing the attendant presuming that she was dead. “The other patients of the TB ward where the woman was admitted told me and the sub collector that when they woke up at 4 AM, they found the woman was not in her bed.
He further informed that no attendant was given duty in that TB ward due to shortage of staff. But the hospital authorities had assigned duty to a nurse whose room lies at a little distance from the TB ward.
The CDMO, however, admitted this, there might be some fault lies with the hospital authorities. “We will analyse the report and basing on the outcome of the report, action would be taken against the guilty”, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has targeted the state government on this incident.
Talking to media persons, BJP leader Radharani Panda said the schemes the state government has formulated for the poor tribals are in paper and paper only. Citing instances, she said thousands of people are yet to get the assistance from the government under Harischandra Yojana.
Senior Congress leader and former Nabarangpur MP Pradip Majhi said Dana Majhi was a tribal and he had no money, he was not provided with the ambulance van. We will give a fitting reply to chief minister Naveen Patnaik. The PCC Adivasi Cell will very soon come to the street on this issue till justice is meted out to Dana Majhi.
In his reply, Housing and Urban Development minister Pushpendra Singhdeo said he has sought an inquiry to find out why Majhi took away his wife from the hospital on his shoulders. On the basis of the inquiry report, the state government will take immediate action.
The incident occurred when 42-year-old Amang Dei, who was being treated for tuberculosis at the district headquarters hospital, died at around 2 AM on Thursday. Despite all his efforts, Amang’s husband, Dana Majhi, was not able to avail an ambulance till this morning to carry her dead body. With sheer desperation, he wrapped the body of his wife in cloth and carried it on his shoulders and headed for his village accompanied by his 12-year-old daughter who was crying inconsolably.
By the time OTV came to know about the incident, Dana had already covered 12 kms on his way from the hospital to his home in Melghara village under Rampur block. After tracking down Dana at Sagada, OTV informed the collector and the people’s representative following which a mortuary van arrived to carry the dead body.