BHADRAK: A grieving couple was reportedly made to wait for an agonising 26 hours for autopsy of their two-year-old daughter - who had drowned - in Bhadrak district. Arabinda Jena and his wife had to spend the entire October 8 night with body of their daughter in Chandbali Community Health Centre (CHC) as neither the police nor the doctors could ensure an early postmortem.
The Odisha government has rolled out 5T and Mo Sarkar initiatives to improve governance and professionalism in public servants. Police and health are two priority areas under the initiatives.
Sources said, the kid Jyotsnarani had drowned while playing near the village pond. She was rushed to Chandbali CHC but doctors declared her dead at about 1.15 pm on Friday (October 8).
Informed, police though arrived at the hospital and conducted the inquest, the autopsy could not be conducted as it was already sun-down. The parents of the deceased pleaded but in vain.
“I pleaded before the hospital staff and constable who had come from the police station. They did not take any step to conduct postmortem of my daughter on the day itself. We had to wait for over 26 hours in the hospital for the procedure,” said a grieving Arabinda.
The incident has sent shock waves in the locality with people demanding stringent action against insensitive government officials responsible for the inordinate delay.
“As if the death their two-year-old daughter was not enough, the couple was forced to suffer all along the night due to the callous attitude of both the hospital staff and police officials. The erring officials need to be brought to task,” said social activist Bibekananda Das.
Local police and hospital staff attributed the delay to absence of a sweeper, who usually dissects the bodies at the hospital. When the sweeper arrived from Bhadrak, the doctors entrusted with the job was absent at the hospital.
Bansada OIC Sk Hafiz said the police did its job on time and it was the doctor and sweeper who delayed the procedure. In-charge Medical Officer Dr Bishnupada Sahu, who was on leave for UPSC preliminary examination, blamed the police for the delay.
Ganjam’s MGNREGS feat
The Ganjam administration has achieved record employment generation under the flagship MGNREGS this year. The administration has created 2.01 crore mandays and provided work to 3,28,533 families, particularly migrant returnees, in the district.
Model ponds, parks, roads, drains, cow sheds, anganwadi centres besides plantation of coconut saplings were taken up under the rural job scheme Project Director, DRDA Sindhe Dattatreya Bhausaheb said till October 8, the district has generated 2.01 crore mandays of work by spending Rs 386.32 crore. During 2020-21 fiscal, Ganjam had achieved 98.36 lakh mandays by spending Rs 210.71 crore.