Denied ambulance, man carries sick wife on handcart

Health services in Uttar Pradesh continue to be in a sorry state of affairs, as a man was forced to carry his sick wife to Kannauj district hospital on a handcart after being allegedly denied ambulance.

According to reports, the man, a resident of Haibatpur Katra village in Kannauj district, called for an ambulance to take his sick wife to the hospital but he was told that the ambulance could not be sent to his village as it was situated far away from the district headquarter. ''I requested the driver to rush the ambulance as my wife was very sick but he refused,'' he said.

As the condition of his wife began to deteriorate, the man decided to take her to the hospital on a handcart.

Hospital officials said that they had not yet received any complaint in this regard. ''Action will be taken against the driver if he is found guilty,'' said an official.

A more or less similar incident took place at the government medical college hospital in Agra. A man had to carry an oxygen cylinder on his shoulder all the way to the microbiology laboratory, where his three-month-old child was to undergo some tests.

Suraj Kumar, a resident of Raja Kheda in Agra district, said that his newborn child was admitted to the pediatric ward in the hospital. On Wednesday the doctors asked him to get some tests done at the lab. As the baby was on oxygen support, Suraj had to carry the oxygen cylinder on his shoulder all the way to the lab, which was 500 meters away from the ward, with his child. A probe has been ordered into the matter, sources said.