Private hospital refuses to release Covid victim’s body for three days; Pune admin launches inquiry

Pune: A private hospital in rural parts of Pune has come under fire from the relatives of a Covid-19 deceased person

Pune: A private hospital in rural parts of Pune has come under fire from the relatives of a Covid-19 deceased person. The relatives complained that the hospital held back the body of the deceased for over three days and kept it in the morgue. Following the complaints raised by the relatives and the local MP, the district administration has launched an inquiry.

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The district administration has formed an eight-member committee chaired by civic surgeon Dr Ashok Nandapurkar. The committee would visit the hospital on Tuesday.

Dr Nandapurkar said, “The hospital is a private medical college and we got the complaint that the patient died due to Covid-19 on May 1. The body was discharged three days later. We will visit the hospital on Tuesday and investigate.”

Member of Parliament, Shrirang Barne, said, “I got a call that the hospital, Maharashtra Institute of Medical Education and Research or MIMER, refused to release the body for three days due to pending bill. The deceased was a vegetable vendor and bills were to be cleared through MPJAY (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana) which was not done because the hospital had not informed the authorities about the death. I reached the hospital and the authorities later handed over the body.”

Dr Suchitra Nagre, trustee and executive director of MIMER, said, “The allegations are wrong. The body was not held back because of pending bills, but the relatives could not claim the body as it was weekend. May 1 was holiday and May 2 was Sunday so they did not take it and we had only 2-3 staff present at the hospital. On Monday, the MP visited the hospital along with the relatives who claimed that we had not handed over the body, however we tried to convey our side. The body was handed over immediately. In our 25 years of working as a medical college, we have never held back a body or even a patient because of pending bills. However, during this unprecedented Covid situation, we feel that our work is not appreciated.”