14-year-old-girl pedals trolley 35 km to carry injured father to hospital

A 14-year-old girl pedalled a trolley rickshaw 35 km to take her injured father to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Odisha’s Bhadrak.

The incident happened on October 23 but came to light on Thursday when some local people and journalists spotted the girl near Mohatab Chhak in Bhadrak town while she was taking her father back home on the trolley.

The girl Sujata Sethi (14) of Nadigan village took her injured father to Dhamnagar hospital, about 14 km away from her village, pedalling her father’s trolley.

However, doctors asked her to shift her father to Bhadrak DHH. She pedalled the trolley 35 km to bring her father to the district hospital on October 23. Her father Sambhunath was injured in a group clash on October 22, sources said.

According to Sujata, doctors at Bhadrak DHH advised her to go back and come after a week for an operation.

”I neither have money to hire a private vehicle nor a mobile phone to call the ambulance. So, I used my father’s trolley to bring him (Sambhunath) to the hospital,” she said.

After getting information about the incident, Bhadrak MLA Sanjib Mallick and former Dhamnagar MLA Rajendra Das reached the girl and extended necessary help.

Bhadrak Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Santanu Patra said the patient was admitted on October 23 for treatment. He was advised for an operation after a week.

”We have no provision for ambulance service to return the patients to home … He will remain in the hospital till the end of the treatment,” Patra said.