Told ambulance has no diesel, UP family forced to carry elderly woman to hospital in mattress

The 70-year-old woman had to be wrapped in the mattress, put on a truck and taken to the district hospital in UP's Shahjahanpur.

Representational image courtesy Pixabay

Lucknow: In yet another example of the sorry state of Uttar Pradesh's medical infrastructure, a family had to carry one its members on a charpai (mattress) to the nearest hospital because there were no ambulances or medical vans available.

The incident took place in Tilhar district's Bhedpur in Shahjahanpur - about 175 kms from the state capital of Lucknow - where an elderly woman required immediate medical attention. Her family dialled the 108 emergency number but the driver of the ambulance reportedly refused saying his vehicle had no diesel.

With the 70-year-old clearly suffering, the family was left with no option but to wrap her in a mattress, plonk her on a truck and make way to the hospital. Even here, there was no end to their unfortunate plight.

When the family approached hospital staff to come to the gate to bring down the ailing woman, they reportedly said they were not allowed to take hospital stretchers outside the building. Resigned to their fate once again and aghast at the prevailing medical condition, the family carried the elderly woman in the same mattress all the way to the trauma centre where she was finally admitted for treatment.

While it is perhaps good fortune that the elderly woman managed to make it to the hospital despite the ordeal, the ordeal itself once again puts a big black mark on the state of hospitals and medical facilities in Uttar Pradesh. This despite Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently claiming that medical system in place in UP was one of the best in the country. The ground reality though appears shockingly contrary.