Pune’s Khadki Cantonment Hospital Under Fire After Hearse Breaks Down, Family Forced to Wait Hours
Khadki, 5th July 2025: At the Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar General Hospital in Pune’s Khadki Cantonment, a hearse vehicle failure has exposed glaring lapses in essential services, even as the country celebrates the Amrit Mahotsav of independence. The hospital, run by the Khadki Cantonment Board, has been operating without a functional hearse for days, leaving bereaved families to fend for themselves when transporting deceased loved ones.
On July 2, the family of a deceased patient requested the hospital hearse to take the body home. However, staff did not initially inform them that the vehicle was out of order. Blame-shifting among hospital staff and officials left the deceased waiting nearly three hours before, under public pressure, hospital authorities allowed the emergency ambulance to be used instead.
A similar episode was reported on June 26, when another grieving family had no choice but to hire a tempo to carry a body because the hearse was unavailable. Currently, the hospital has only one hearse and one emergency ambulance for the entire cantonment area.
Local residents and activists have expressed strong dissatisfaction, saying Khadki Cantonment — once recognized as the richest in the nation — is failing its citizens. Social activist Idris Sayyed confirmed he had submitted a formal demand to the board’s CEO to arrange for an alternative hearse immediately.
Rakesh Pille, president of the Khadki unit of RPI (A), warned, “It is the board’s responsibility to provide proper facilities to residents. If this does not improve, we will be forced to protest at the cantonment office.”
Responding to the uproar, health inspector S.R. Patki clarified that the hearse had been in the garage for a week with a technical fault. “We have only one ambulance and one hearse, both provided free to Khadki residents,” he stated. “When it was brought to our notice that a deceased patient needed transport, we arranged the emergency ambulance. The hearse has now been repaired and will return to service once its bill is cleared.”
