Officials on June 23 refuted allegations that a man was forced to carry his paralysed wife to a health centre on a wooden cart after he could not get an ambulance for her in Meerut.



A video was shared widely on social media showing the man, carrying his wife on a charpoy which was mounted on a rickety cycle-cart to the Shamli Community Health Center (CHC). According to reports, he was taking her there for treatment after she developed a wound in her lower back. She was taken to the health centre in the cart as they couldn't get an ambulance, they alleged.

Medical Superintendent Ramesh Chandra said the woman had developed bed sores and she was treated for them at the CHC. She was given medicine and her kin refused to refer her to a hospital, he said. Chandra said the patient's family had not requested for an ambulance. Had they asked for it, an arrangement for one could be made immediately to drop and pick them from home, he said.

Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Medical Officer (ACMO) KP Singh and Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sadar Surjit Kumar reached the CHC on June 22 for an investigation. They recorded statements of the staff who were present at the health centre that day, and later, the ACMO went to the woman's house and checked her condition. The ACMO said the family had not made a call for the ambulance and brought the patient on the cart on her own.