Jalpaiguri: Days after the husband and son of a deceased woman were forced to carry her body after both government and private ambulance operators allegedly demanded high fares, a five-member committee was formed on Friday by officials of the Jalpaiguri Government Medical College and Hospital to probe the incident.
Both the father and son had alleged that the private ambulance had demanded a fare of Rs 3,000, about three times the normal fare. According to officials, however, the group will seek answers as to why no government assistance was provided to the kin of the deceased. Speaking about the incident, medical college superintendent Dr Kalyan Khan said, "We have initiated a departmental inquiry into the incident regarding the carrying of the body on shoulders. The five-member committee includes nursing superintendents as well as professors of the medical college."
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"We will try to gather details, including who the family of the deceased had approached to avail of ambulance service, what security guards were doing at the time whether they had helped them at all. The CCTV footage of the time the body was handed over is being monitored carefully," he added. Khan further noted that the administration has decided to make ambulances readily available to carry the bodies immediately.
The incident in question took place on Thursday, hours after Lakshmirani Dewan, a resident of Kranti village of Mal subdivision of Jalpaiguri, passed away late on Wednesday after being admitted to the hospital with breathing difficulty when her son Ramprasad Dewan approached an ambulance, the exorbitant amount was sought by the driver. Despite pleading, no solution emerged, following which he and his father carried the body on their shoulders. They were ultimately helped by a member of Green Jalpaiguri, a voluntary organisation, who provided them with one of their ambulances.
