The Directorate of Medical Education (DME) has ordered a detailed inquiry into shifting of the body of a COVID-19 patient from the Government General Hospital at Nizamabad on Friday without following the standard protocol by the mortuary staff.
In a statement issued on Saturday, DME Dr. K. Ramesh Reddy said the committee that was tasked to probe the incident had stated in its interim report that the body of the 50-year-old male COVID patient from Bheemgal was shifted out of the mortuary for burial by his relatives in an auto-rickshaw. The hospital authorities explained to the probe panel that the bodies of three COVID patients who died in the wee hours of Friday in GGH Nizamabad were kept at the disposal of mortuary staff after the completion of formalities.
As the hospital administration was engaged in managing the COVID in-patients, two COVID patients bodies were shifted in an ambulance and the relatives of another dead patient had forced the mortuary staff for handing over over the body stating that they had their own auto-rickshaw and would take the body in it. Preliminary enquiries by the probe panel found that the body was buried in a graveyard in Nizamabad. The DME stated that show-cause notices were issued to the mortuary staff who handed over the body without following standard protocol for COVID patients and action would be initiated against them after getting the final report. The DME further said Superintendent of GGH Nizamabad Dr. M. Nageshwar Rao had been instructed to file criminal cases on the staff involved in mishandling the patient’s body.
Dr. Ramesh Reddy also instructed the Superintendents of all Government Hospitals to strictly follow the COVID guidelines in handling the bodies and were told to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the larger public interest.
