A tribal man carried the body of his three-year-old daughter, who died due to suspected respiratory tract infection, from the District Headquarters hospital in Khammam to his native village in Enkoor mandal on a bike unable to afford an ambulance on Sunday.
The heartrending incident came to light on Monday after a video of the grief-stricken tribal man riding pillion on a bike with the body of his daughter surfaced on social media.
Sources said that Sukki, 3, daughter of Vetti Mallaiah of Kotha Medapalli village in Enkoor mandal, died while undergoing treatment at the District Headquarters hospital in Khammam in the early hours of Sunday.
A grief-stricken Mallaiah reportedly requested the hospital staff concerned to arrange an ambulance to take the body of his daughter to his native village, but in vain, sources said.
The impoverished tribal man with only ₹100 in his pocket travelled to his village in a bus and returned to the hospital on his relative’s bike a few hours later.
He then travelled back to Kotha Medapalli with his daughter’s body on the bike and reached home after traversing a distance of around 60 km later in the day, sources added.
He told local media that he repeatedly pleaded with a woman employee of the hospital to make arrangements for an ambulance to carry his daughter’s body to his native place, but to no avail.
Hospital sources, however, rebutted the allegations saying the tribal man did not approach the medical officer concerned in this regard.
