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Hospital orders probe after video shows ants on paralysed Covid patient’s face
The incident occurred in state government-run Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital in Vadodara, and the five-minute video of the woman patient was shot by her relative.
A probe has been launched on Friday by the administration of a Vadodara hospital in Gujarat after a recent video showing ants crawling on the face of a paralysed Covid-19 patient in the medical facility’s ICU ward surfaced on social media platforms.
The five-minute video clip that was shot by the patient’s relative shows a woman in her 50s lying on an ICU bed of Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital in Vadodara. When the relative asks the patient if she wants something, she only shakes her head to answer. At this point, he notices ants coming out from the corner of the patient’s swollen mouth. The video then shows the relative complaining to the nurse, who informs him that due care of the patient was taken by on-duty staff, and that her mouth was also cleaned the preceding night.
The video of the incident that took place in the state government-run SSG Hospital was shot by the relative a few days before.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Ranjan Aiyer, has ordered the inquiry into the matter and assured of action if any lapse in part of the medical facility’s staff comes to light.
“All the staff have been given strict instructions to maintain high standards of hygiene and also remain alert in attending patients,” he said, adding that spillage of food from the feeding tube “might have attracted the ants".
This development comes after the hospital authorities initially reportedly denied the allegations.
Before the inquiry order was issued by Dr Aiyer, the administrative nodal officer of the hospital, Dr Osman Belin, dismissed the video, citing that only one ant was found on the patient’s face. Dr Belin further stated that edema (a medical condition that causes swelling of body parts) that was visible in the Covid-19 patient’s face is not a result of ant bites but heavy medications, The Indian Express reported.
Meanwhile, Gujarat on Thursday recorded 27 fresh Covid-19 cases and no fatality – for the 11th successive day, while 33 patients recovered from the virus, the state health department data showed. Following this, the cumulative tally of the state reached 824,829 and the overall recoveries stood at 814,485, the data revealed.
(With inputs from agencies)
