Images and video clips of an eight-year-old boy holding his toddler brother’s body and sobbing while their father, a labourer, was away trying to arrange a vehicle to take them home has sent shock waves across the state.
Gulshan Jatav, 8, watched over two-year-old Raja’s body after the toddler was declared dead on arrival at the Morena district hospital on Saturday.
Their father, Pujaram Jatav, could not afford an ambulance run by a private agency hired by the hospital. The agency charged him between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 to ferry them to their village, Badphara, about 40 km from the hospital.
Pujaram did get a hospital ambulance, but only after Gulshan’s sobs caught the attention of passersby, one of them a policeman, Yogendra, who contacted the hospital authorities and the sub-divisional magistrate.
“I first thought it was an accident as a lot of people had assembled there. But we were shocked to see the boy sitting with the body. I tried asking the boy what had happened but all he kept repeating was that papa will come,” said Yogendra.
“I could not understand what he was trying to say. I asked him to come back and that I will arrange for a vehicles if he has gone looking for one,” Yogendra added.
Using the hospital papers that Gulshan was holding, Yogendra contacted Pujarama and told him to return . The policeman then called the SDM and the hospital authorities.
According to hospital authorities, Raja was referred to Morena from Ambah civil hospital with symptoms of acute anemia. Dr Rakesh Sharma, Chief Medical Officer of Morena district hospital, said Raja’s body had swollen due to fluid accumulation.
The boy was declared dead on arrival, he said, but alleged Pujaram had left the hospital looking for a private vehicle without contacting the authorities.
“At the hospital we have ambulance to ferry patients but to ferry dead body, a private agency has been roped in called the Rogi Kalyan Samittee, which charges people. But, in case of those who cannot afford to pay, the hospital makes arrangement for it,” said Rakesh Sharma.
“Soon after it was brought to notice of the hospital authorities they were sent home with arrangements through Rogi Kalyan Sammittee,” said Sharma.
Dr Sharma, meanwhile, also visited Pujaram’s home in Badphara. “As per the neighbours, Raja had fallen ill about four to five days ago but had not gotten proper treatment in time,” he alleged.