Body of male Covid-19 patient turns out to be of female at graveyard, hospital booked
Jamshedpur
The Jharkhand health department cut a sorry figure on Saturday after body of a male Covid-19 patient sent from a Ranchi-based hospital turned out to be that of a female at a graveyard here under Sakchi police station (PS) in Jamshedpur.
The Ranchi district administration, however, lodged an FIR against the Ranchi-based Asclepius Hospital in Irwa late Saturday evening following a tweet by state health minister Banna Gupta after the family of the 60-year-old deceased Covid-19 patient from Azadnagar locality here lodged a complaint with the minister and Jamshedpur district administration.
Abdul Hamid Ansari, elder brother of deceased Abdul Samid Ansari, said his brother had been suffering from pneumonia for the past 3-4 days after which they admitted him in Asclepius Hospital in Ranchi on September 1.
“He died on Friday (September 4) after which we were handed over his body packed in a plastic kit today. But when we opened the face part of the packet for the last glimpse after offering Namaz, we found to our utter shock that this was body of a female,” said Hamid.
He said this criminal negligence on the part of the hospital had exposed the health system in the state. “My brother had tested Corona negative at the time of admission but was declared positive later. We doubt even that because commission was all too evident in the hospital,” alleged Hamid.
“Every day, we were charged Rs 25-30, 000 by the Asclepius Hospital. And how could any hospital send wrong bodies to wrong places! Licence of such hospitals must be cancelled immediately. We have complained to state health minister Banna Gupta and district administration here and they have assured to get our brother’s body for proper last rites,” Hamid said at the Sakchi graveyard in the city.
Neyaz Sharif, another relative, said there was no transparency on Covid-19 treatment in the state health department or in any of the hospitals in Ranchi, Jamshedpur or any other city in the state. “Everything is arbitrary here. Families are getting no information about their patients for 10-12 days. Other states have declared Rs 3-4 lakh compensation in case of Covid-19 death but Jharkhand government has not declared any such policy,” said Sharif.
Ranchi SDO Lokesh Mishra lodged an FIR against Asclepius Hospital management Saturday evening for grave lapse and negligence. “The hospital management had handed over the wrong body to a family in Jamshedpur. An FIR has been lodged against Asclepius Hospital after our investigation found the allegation to be true. Further action is being taken. Such negligence will not be tolerated,” the SDO said.
“I had ordered the Ranchi deputy commissioner to investigate and take immediate action in the matter after I received the complaint from the family of the deceased from Azadnagar. FIR has been lodged and we want to assert against such negligence will not be tolerated at any cost during this Corona crisis,” said health minister Banna Gupta .