However, family upset at inability of hospital to provide vehicle to it Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Jalandhar, September 17 Hospital’s stand Avtar Singh, who was a farmer, lived an honourable and respectful life. All through his life, he tried to help people and was admired by everyone in his village Charkey. Such was his motivation to serve society that he decided to donate his body in 2007 to the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). This, however, came as a shock to his family, but the family members respected his decision. Singh, 72, died on Friday evening, leaving the family devastated. But what followed next was something which hurt their emotions. Amarjit Singh, son of Avtar Singh, said after his death, he called a doctor at PIMS whom he told that his father had donated his body and asked about the procedure to be followed. The doctor asked them the distance of the village from Jalandhar city and replied that a vehicle would be sent in the morning. He added that in the morning, he again called the doctor as he was worried that the body would get decomposed and his father’s last wish would remain unfulfilled. But what came after was a refusal, he said. He said the doctor asked them to arrange their own vehicle, which Singh said upset the family. “I felt so helpless and angry that at that moment, I thought of cremating my father’s body instead of giving it to the hospital,” said Amarjit in a shaking voice. “But since I wanted to fulfill my father’s last wish, I arranged an ambulance from a private hospital in Bhogpur and then my younger brother went in the ambulance along with the body,” he said. Amarjit said they did not want anything but a few words of thanks would have done. “What everyone else would have thought? Had a vehicle come to take the body, it would have been a respectable moment, but everyone saw that how we were trying hard to arrange a vehicle,” he said. “We wanted an honour for our father, but instead it was an insult which is not acceptable,” he said. Dr Kanwaljit Singh, resident director of PIMS, said the vehicle was not sent due to its non-availability. There is usually no procedure of sending a vehicle to take a body. Instead, the family is asked to come by their own vehicle. If a family requests to send a vehicle, we do send it. Here, due to the non-availability of a vehicle, it could not be provided, but the money that was used by the family would be refunded, he added.Dr Kanwaljit Singh, resident director of PIMS, said the vehicle was not sent due to its non-availability. There is usually no procedure of sending a vehicle to take a body. Instead, the family is asked to come by their own vehicle. If a family requests to send a vehicle, we do send it. Here, due to the non-availability of a vehicle, it could not be provided, but the money that was used by the family would be refunded, he added.

Stay updated with all the Latest Jalandhar headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.