Bhopal: A poor man, belonging to primitive tribe of Baiga, was spotted begging in the streets in a Madhya Pradesh town to perform last rites of his stillborn child he was carrying, leaving the onlookers in a state of shock and dismay.
Krishnapal Baiga (26), a native of tribal dominated Umaria district in MP, put the body of the newborn in a bag and started begging in the district headquarters town of Jabalpur on Sunday evening. He came under pressure by the management of the private hospital when the told him that he had no money to pay for the operation.
“I was charged Rs 40,000 by the private hospital for my wife’s delivery. I had no money to pay the bill. Later, I decided to perform last rites of the stillborn baby first and hence I came to street to beg to arrange money for the purpose,” the tribal was quoted as saying by a spokesman of an NGO who helped Mr Baiga assist in the discharge of the his wife from the hospital. The NGO later took up the matter with the local administration to bail out the distressed couple.
The district administration has immediately shifted the woman to a government hospital. Official sources said Ramsakhi Baiga, 22, experienced labour pain on Friday. Her family members dialed for Janani Express ambulance, provided by the state government, to carry her to the nearby government hospital.
The ambulance, however, took the couple to a private hospital in Jabalpur where she delivered a stillborn baby following a cesarean surgery. “A probe has been ordered to find out why she was admitted in a private hospital,” a local magistrate said.
