Tension prevailed at a private hospital here at Markat Nagar on Thursday when the hospital authorities refused to hand over the dead body of a young boy to his parents for non-payment of treatment dues. The road mishap victim died while undergoing treatment here.
However, following intervention of district administration, the body was handed over to the parents for cremation after inquest and post mortem. Seeing the plight of the hapless parents, who have lost their only son and the insensitive attitude of the Hospital authorities, hundreds of irate locals staged a dharna in front of the hospital condemning the incident.
According to sources, one Alok Das (21) of Dhenkanal Sadar had sustained grievous multiple injuries in a road accident on October 1. He was admitted in SCB medical college and hospital here. But after five days of treatment, the patient was shifted to Aswini Hospital.
“The Hospital has already taken Rs. 4 lakh from me and could not save the life of my son. Shockingly, they are now refusing to hand over the body saying there is still an outstanding hospital dues of Rs 2.35 lakh”, complained Alok’s father.
However, following an instruction from the district collector, the hospital authorities released the body after receiving an additional payment of Rs 30,000 and waiving out the balance unpaid dues.
