Recently Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya flagged off an ambulance service that would cater to cows. He rolled out 'Gauvansh Chikitsa Mobile Vans? to rescue ill or injured cows and take them to either gaushalas (cow shelters) or veterinary doctors where a veterinarian and assistant will be present in the van. While Cows were being given such elite treatment, a shocking incident has been reported where a father had to carry his son's dead body on his shoulders as he was neither provided a stretcher nor an ambulance by the hospital.

Udayveer, a 45-year-old labourer, said doctors at the Etawah government hospital - considered one of the state's best - did not treat his teen son Pushpendra and turned him away. According to NDTV, the desperate father took the boy twice to the hospital from his village, seven km away, hoping for a cure. The doctors didn't offer the services of a hearse or an ambulance, which are meant to be provided free of cost to the poorest.

Struggling with his son's lifeless body in his arms, Udayveer, with a chronic lung problem, walked out of the hospital. Someone filmed him on his mobile phone camera. He took the body home on a bike. "No one told me whether I am entitled to transport to take my son's body back," he said.

The top health official of the district called it "shameful". The boy, he said, was brought dead to the hospital on Monday afternoon.

"I am told the doctors were busy with a bus accident case and so they could not ask him (Udayveer) if he needed transport. There will be action...no doubt it is a blot on the reputation of this hospital and the fault is ours," said Rajeev Yadav, Chief Medical Officer.

(Source: NDTV)