A tribal man from West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand was forced to carry his newborn’s body in a cardboard box from a government hospital to his village after he said no ambulance or mortuary vehicle was arranged for him following the child’s death. The heartbreaking incident, which came to light after a video circulated on social media, has sparked widespread outrage and prompted the state government to order an inquiry.
Ramakrishna Hembrom, a resident of Bangrasai village under Karaikela police station limits, had admitted his pregnant wife Rita Tiriya to Chakradharpur Sub-divisional Hospital for delivery on March 5. Rita gave birth on Saturday, but the newborn died shortly after. After the death, with no vehicle arranged and no guidance offered by hospital staff, Hembrom placed the baby’s body in an empty cardboard box and left the hospital in an e-rickshaw to make the long journey home.
The sight of a father carrying his dead child in a cardboard box moved everyone who witnessed it, and as news of the incident spread to surrounding villages, public anger erupted over the state of healthcare services for poor and rural patients at government hospitals.
State Government Orders Inquiry
Additional Chief Secretary of Health Ajoy Singh confirmed the state was aware of the allegations. “We are aware of the allegation about the incident in Chakradharpur Sub Divisional Hospital. We will start a probe, and action will be taken against anyone found involved,” he told PTI.
Hospital Says Family Never Asked for Help
Dr Anshuman Sharma, the in-charge medical officer at Chakradharpur Sub-divisional Hospital, offered a different account of what happened. He said the woman had been admitted on March 5 and that doctors had detected a low foetal heart rate along with medical complications in the mother from the time of her initial examination.
“Treatment was started, but during a routine check on the morning of March 7, the night duty staff could not detect the foetal heartbeat. She was immediately referred for an ultrasound. However, before the procedure could be done, labour pain began, and she was brought back to the sub-divisional hospital, where a stillborn baby was delivered,” Sharma said.
He maintained that the hospital administration was never approached for help in transporting the body. “Neither the relatives made any request to the staff for a vehicle nor was any such issue reported to me by the doctors or nurses on duty,” he said, adding that the matter only came to the hospital’s notice later that evening when the video surfaced.
Sharma said Mamta Vahan operators, a government maternal transport scheme, had been present at the hospital earlier that day for paperwork related to pending payments, but no request for a vehicle was made by the family at the time. He also noted that the mother is still admitted to the hospital and has sought discharge, and assured that transport would be arranged for her return home.
“If a Mamta Vahan is not available from her block at the time of discharge, we will arrange a vehicle from our level to ensure she reaches home without any difficulty. We will also ensure that such an incident does not happen in future and will proactively ask patients if they require an ambulance or transport facility,” Sharma said. He added that an internal hospital inquiry has been initiated to examine the full circumstances of the incident.
Sharma also claimed that the woman had reportedly been receiving treatment from an unqualified local practitioner before being brought to the government hospital, and that the family only came to the sub-divisional hospital after her condition failed to improve under that earlier treatment.
