JAKARTA - 15 months ago, the family has come to terms with the departure of Durga Sumithra, a 40-year-old woman, and NL Muniraju, a 67-year-old man due to contracting COVID-19. The family can no longer see them for the last time because of the hospital report, both will be cremated immediately. The fact?
The two bodies were accidentally found by cleaners at the mortuary of ESIC Rajajinagar Hospital in Bengaluru. They died during the first wave of the pandemic on July 2, 2020. They had been hospitalized for three days in a hospital managed by the State Insurance Company (ESIC).
The gruesome discovery came to light this weekend during a scheduled cleanup by the ESIC Rajajinagar Hospital morgue. Cleaners found the body lying in the fridge, police and hospital officials told The Independent on Thursday 9 December.
Hospital officials said the bodies were wrapped in sealed body bags indicating they were victims of COVID-19.
“The morgue where the body was found was closed in December 2020 and the hospital has a second morgue now. A foul smell came out of some of the freezers when the staff decided to open them and found two bodies inside," police said.
“We called the families to come to identify the bodies and send them for post-mortem. The body, wrapped in a body bag, was returned to the family for the final ceremony," he added.
The family was obviously very surprised by this finding. Moreover, at that time the family was only informed of the news of the death and the hospital authorities said that both of them would be cremated by the state.
"But they explained to us that the body was never cremated," complained GB Sujata, Sumithra's older sister,
“It was the peak of Covid and the hospital did not return our bodies. They did not take our written consent for the disposal of the bodies and told us on the phone that they would dispose of the bodies because of the pandemic," said Satish Kumar, Muniraj's son-in-law.
Muniraju's family had completed all the last Hindu rituals after they were informed that his body had been cremated.
“We were shocked to learn that something like this had happened to a member of our family. It shouldn't happen to anyone. This is disrespectful to the dead. We are heartbroken," Kumar added.
Mr Kumar said he was consulting lawyers to see if they should file a legal case against the hospital.
In a joint statement signed by the dean and the hospital's medical inspector, ESI Rajajinagar Hospital said bodies should have been handed over to the local civil service for cremation on the day of their death, and records show some of the bodies of COVID-19 victims from the hospital were indeed cremated on July 2. 2020.
The hospital has set up a committee to investigate the entire incident and seek a report within a week to take any further action required.
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