In a tragic incident from Aheri taluka in Gadchiroli district, a young couple was forced to carry the bodies of their two sons on their shoulders after they allegedly did not receive timely medical treatment. The boys, aged under 10, died from fever, and their parents had to transport their bodies 15 kilometers to their village home due to the absence of an ambulance.
A video of the heart-wrenching scene, shared by Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, shows the couple trudging through a muddy forest path with the deceased boys. Wadettiwar condemned the lack of adequate healthcare facilities in Gadchiroli, a district overseen by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the Guardian Minister of the area.
Wadettiwar criticized Fadnavis and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Minister Dharmarao Baba Atram, both of whom are part of the ruling MahaYuti coalition, for failing to address the dire conditions in Gadchiroli. He urged them to visit the region to witness the situation firsthand rather than focusing on state-wide development events.
This incident follows another distressing case from the Vidarbha region. On September 1, Kavita A. Sakol, a pregnant tribal woman from Dahendri village in the Melghat tribal area of Amravati, delivered a stillborn child at home after an ambulance failed to arrive in time. Sakol subsequently succumbed to her own medical complications. Despite her family’s attempts to get her to a hospital using a private vehicle, she passed away due to inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
Wadettiwar criticized the government’s focus on electoral schemes like the ‘Ladki Bahin’ program, suggesting that the funds could have been better spent on improving emergency medical services.
Both incidents have sparked significant reactions on social media, highlighting ongoing issues with the region’s healthcare system. There has been no official response from the authorities as of yet.