KOLKATA: The fear among people to get too close to bodies of Covid-19 positive relatives has landed Eastern Railway’s premier BR Singh Hospital in Sealdah in a spot. The family of a patient, who died at the hospital on Wednesday and tested positive for Covid, apparently identified another body that was taken away by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for disposal.
Later, family members of another person, who also died at the hospital on Wednesday but whose sample had tested negative, reached the morgue and was shown the body. When they said the body shown to them was not of their relative’s, it dawned upon the hospital authorities that a major mix-up had occurred.
“Both patients died at the hospital on Wednesday even before their test results arrived from NICED. While one tested positive, the other was negative. Both bodies were shifted to the morgue. On Thursday, the family of the patient who was Covid-19 positive reached the morgue and identified the body. We videographed the whole process. After identification, the body was taken away by the KMC for disposal. Later, relatives of the other patient arrived and said the body shown to them wasn’t that of their family member. This effectively means that the body cremated by the KMC was that of a non-Covid person,” said D C Bhuniya, medical director, BR Singh Hospital.
While hospital authorities have lodged an FIR and informed the KMC. An inquiry has also been convened by Eastern Railway (ER).
According to Nikhil Kumar Chakraborty, CPRO, ER, the inquiry would reveal what actually happened. “There is nothing to suppress. If any railway employee is found guilty of negligence, necessary action will be taken,” he said.
Later, family members of another person, who also died at the hospital on Wednesday but whose sample had tested negative, reached the morgue and was shown the body. When they said the body shown to them was not of their relative’s, it dawned upon the hospital authorities that a major mix-up had occurred.
“Both patients died at the hospital on Wednesday even before their test results arrived from NICED. While one tested positive, the other was negative. Both bodies were shifted to the morgue. On Thursday, the family of the patient who was Covid-19 positive reached the morgue and identified the body. We videographed the whole process. After identification, the body was taken away by the KMC for disposal. Later, relatives of the other patient arrived and said the body shown to them wasn’t that of their family member. This effectively means that the body cremated by the KMC was that of a non-Covid person,” said D C Bhuniya, medical director, BR Singh Hospital.
While hospital authorities have lodged an FIR and informed the KMC. An inquiry has also been convened by Eastern Railway (ER).
According to Nikhil Kumar Chakraborty, CPRO, ER, the inquiry would reveal what actually happened. “There is nothing to suppress. If any railway employee is found guilty of negligence, necessary action will be taken,” he said.
