Sambalpur doctor performs last rites of destitute woman patient after her death

SAMBALPUR: Assistant professor of the department of medicine of the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla, Dr Shankar Ramchandani, who shot into the limelight after opening ‘One-Rupee’ clinic for the poor, have again drawn the attention of all after he performed the last rites of a 62-year-old destitute woman, Puspanjali Bagh, who had been in the female medicine ward of the hospital for the last more than three years, on Tuesday.
Unknown persons had left Puspanjali Bagh of village Jalebira in Sonepur district, who had suffered paralysis attack, at the casualty of VIMSAR on July 12, 2018. Subsequently, she was admitted to the female medicine ward of the hospital and she had been undergoing treatment at the hospital since then. But she died on Saturday. However, no one was there to claim the body of Puspanjali. And hence, it was being decided to bury it as an unclaimed body. But Ramchandani came forward to give a dignified farewell to the destitute woman and requisitioned for cremation.
After getting the required permission, Ramchandani took the body to the cremation ground in Burla and the doctor also lit the pyre
Ramchandani said, Puspanjali had been undergoing treatment at the female medicine ward for the last more than three years. All the staff of the department including nurses, attendants and doctors had an emotional attachment with the woman. I had also talked to her several times. She was a married woman but her husband had deserted her and got married with another woman. I had never seen anyone from her family or her in-law’s family visiting the hospital to inquire about her in the last three years. I knew that no one would claim the body of Puspanjali. But as she had stayed more than three years with us, I thought that it would be improper if the body was disposed of as an unclaimed body. Hence, I decided to give a dignified farewell to the elderly woman, he said.
“I will perform all the other rituals, which are followed. I have also decided to submerge the remains,” said Ramchandani.