BHADRAK: A 14-year-old pedalled her injured father on a trolley rickshaw for about 50 km to seek treatment. On Thursday, she was seen carrying her father back home on the trolley in the absence of an ambulance when she caught the attention of locals. The girl, Sujata Sethi was returning to her home to Nadigan village which is about 35 kilometres from Bhadrak district headquarters hospital (DHH), when she was noticed by some of the locals near Mahatab Chhak in Bhadrak town. By then, she had made two such trips carrying her father.
On October 22, she had carried her father, Sambunatha to Dhamnagar Hospital which is 14 km away from her village. Her father had sustained some injuries over a group clash. However, as per the advice given by the doctor, she had to travel for another 35 km with her father to Bhadrak DHH the next day. According to the girl, doctors at Bhadrak hospital advised her to go back home and come after a week for her father’s surgery. “I decided to return with my father on the trolley as I do not have money to hire a private vehicle,” she said.
She started on her return journey to her village with her father sitting in the trolley and after two kilometres of pedalling, she caught the attention of two journalists who inquired her about the situation. When they asked Bhadrak chief district medical officer (CDMO) Santanu Patra to arrange an ambulance for Sambunatha, he said, the hospital does not have any provision for an ambulance service to take patients back home.
Meanwhile, Bhadrak MLA Sanjib Mallick and the former MLA Rajendra Das reached the spot to access the situation. They intervened the matter and therefore, an ambulance was arranged on the spot for Sambunatha. The CDMO also arranged for Sambunatha’s stay at the hospital till his surgery was conducted and he recovered.
