Bihar’s Nawada district has raised serious questions about the treatment families receive at health centres. Late on Sunday night, four people, three men and a woman, were seen pushing a stretcher with a body wrapped in a pink blanket. The body was that of Ajay Sao’s mother, who had died at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Akbarpur.

Ajay had to push the stretcher for nearly two kilometres to take his mother home because he was allegedly refused an ambulance.

According to the family, Ajay’s mother suddenly fell ill at night and was taken to the PHC, where she passed away. When Ajay asked for an ambulance to carry her body home for the last time, the staff reportedly turned him away. He said a staff member told him that the PHC “doesn’t provide ambulances for the dead”.

Relatives said they kept requesting the staff to help, explaining that it was very late and impossible to arrange other transport. “We were told that they can't give an ambulance as it's not allowed, even as ambulances were parked at the facility,” one relative said.

Even getting a stretcher was not easy, the family claimed. Ajay’s wife and son were asked to stay back as “guarantors” until the stretcher was returned.

“Even the stretcher was given to us after much pleading. We were told that the stretcher would be given to us only if two of us stayed back here as guarantors,” the relative added.

Ajay’s wife said she begged the staff to show basic kindness. “I promised him that my son and I would be there till the stretcher is returned. After that, he let us take the stretcher,” she said.

The health centre has not addressed the matter so far. The family has demanded strict action against the staff involved and has urged the administration to look into the incident.