Srinagar : An 18-year-old girl died on Wednesday at SKIMS Soura, a week after she suffered grievous injuries in a road accident in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district. The family said that the hospital authorities refused them an ambulance to carry the body to Kupwara amid massive snowfall.
“We went several times to the transport section of the hospital but they said that there is no ambulance available and kept us waiting,” Naseer Ahmad, brother of the deceased girl was quoted as saying by a local news gathering agency Global News Service (GNS) over the phone.
When GNS called the transport section, an official there said that the hospital does not provide ambulance for carrying the dead body. An officer of the administration said that preference is given to alive patients and ambulance(s) are kept available for them especially when the situation is difficult due to snowfall. “Situation due to snowfall is very difficult and if ambulance carrying dead body gets stuck in any far off area it could prove detrimental for live patients,” he said.
The family after struggling from early morning to around 1 p.m., finally managed to get a private vehicle to carry the body to Kupwara.
The girl, Shabeen Bano (18) daughter of Abdul Khaiq Khan of Chepora Lalab had suffered serious injuries on 29 December in an accident and succumbed to the wounds at the tertiary care hospital in the wee hours today.
The accident had taken place in Potushie near JNV when a vehicle (JK09B-3517) she and three other members of her family were traveling in fell into a nallah after the driver lost control allegedly due to slippery road condition. Girl’s mother— Zoona Begum— had died on the spot while she and two other family members were injured. (GNS)
