Covid-19 bodies swapped at Rajindra Hospital Patiala

The body of a man in his 62, Inderjit, of Basti Jodhewal, was ferried all the way from Rajindra Hospital to the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana

Patiala/Ludhiana Barely ten days after a case of swapping of bodies of covid-19 victims at Amritsar’s Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on July 19, led to shock waves across the state, another such case was reported from Government Rajindra Hospital at Patiala on Wednesday.

The incident comes barely 10 days after a similar incident at Amritsar GMCH sparked state-wide outrage. (PTI)

In this instance, the body of a man in his 62, Inderjit, of Basti Jodhewal, was ferried all the way from Rajindra Hospital to the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana. The second body involved in the horrific mix-up was that of a man in his 80s, who is from Sangrur.

The incident took place in morning was resolved by the evening. Both hospital authorities claim the kin of the patient was at fault.

Dr Preetinder Chahal, who is assigned the duty of disposing of bodies, at the Rajindra Hospital, said, “The son of the 62-year-old man had identified the body of his father in the presence of a representative of the civil surgeon’s officer and another doctor. Despite that he took the wrong body. Later in the evening, he told us in written that he was not in the condition to identify the body as he was in shock, due to death of his father.” “We have resolved the matter,” said Dr Paras Pandove, medical superintendent.

Ludhiana civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said, “The son told us that he got panicked and could not identify the body when it was shown to him in Patiala. The person has committed a blunder. Fortunately, it was during the re-verification process at civil hospital the body turned out to be of someone else.”