Eight days after his death, the body of a Delhi police sub-inspector whose post-mortem tests confirmed COVID-19 infection was cremated by his family on Thursday. The family alleged that the policeman waited for hours outside a super speciality hospital before being admitted. He died within an hour.
Sub-inspector Ramlal Borghare, a resident of Kirari, was attached to the legal cell in west Delhi’s Rajouri Garden. On June 2, his son Akash (24) and wife took him to MGS Super Speciality Hospital in Punjabi Bagh where they were told to get a COVID-19 test done. After failed attempts at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and Golden Tulip Hospital, the family approached MGS Hospital again, which relented and set a June 3 test date.
The next day, the family said they paid ₹4,500 for the test. “After a two-hour wait, they cited a government order prohibiting private labs from conducting COVID-19 tests and returned the money,” said Akash. By then, Ramlal had fainted while waiting outside in a car.
Akash alleged that despite being taken to the emergency, no one attended to Ramlal for half an hour. A while later, he was declared dead. The next day, Ramlal’s body was sent to the mortuary of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.
Negligence allegation
On June 6, Akash’s mother Sarita submitted a complaint to the police alleging medical negligence by MGS Hospital.
A senior police officer said that on June 8 they wrote to the health department, requesting for a board to conduct Ramlal’s post-mortem “in view of the allegations levelled by his family”.
Subsequently, a board of doctors at Lady Hardinge Medical College was asked to ascertain if there was any medical negligence. The COVID-19 test was conducted on June 9 and Ramlal confirmed as positive the next day.
“This is how a Delhi police officer was treated. He died waiting for treatment. We couldn’t perform his last rites in time, his body had started to decompose,” said Akash, adding that his father’s colleagues and senior officers helped his family but the “system failed us”.
A senior officer said legal action will be taken depending on the board’s findings. No response came from MGS Super Speciality Hospital till the filing of this report.
