Vile Parle residents are crying negligence over the civic-run Cooper Hospital’s decision to term as ‘natural’, the death of a 41-year-old man with classic COVID-19 symptoms. The body was brought there covered merely with a white cloth and burnt on a wooden pyre instead of the electric crematorium, against infection control protocol.
Two days later, his samples tested positive for COVID-19, triggering panic among locals in Jambhul Kakachi Wadi in Vile Parle (East), who had attended the funeral and met the family to offer condolences.
The Bengali Chawl resident had first developed a cough, for which he was treated by a local doctor. The cough persisted and he began to have difficulty breathing. On May 23, he went to HBT Trauma Care Hospital, where he was refused treatment as he did not have a COVID-19-positive report. The next day, he went to Cooper Hospital, where he was put on oxygen support in the casualty ward and later shifted to the isolation ward. On May 26, he went into acute respiratory distress syndrome and succumbed. His COVID-19 test reports were still awaited.
“The death certificate (reviewed by The Hindu ) said it was a natural death and they handed over the body wrapped in white cloth the next day,” said a neighbour. The body, he said, was brought into the area without residents knowing he may have had the infection.
No rituals were carried out, and the body was taken away immediately after his wife and children saw it. “The doctors did not even write ‘suspected COVID’ on the certificate or wrap it in a plastic body bag, which could have served as a caution for those who had gathered,” he said.
Nearly 15 people took the body to the crematorium.
It was negligence on the part of Cooper Hospital that put so many other people at risk, another neighbour said.
Government guidelines say an increased risk of COVID-19 infection is unlikely from a body to health workers or family members who follow standard precautions while handling it. “It is sheer carelessness of the civic staff, who did not bother to check his diagnosis before giving the death certificate,” said local corporator Jyoti Alvani, who received frantic calls from locals.
Eighteen residents of Bengali Chawl and other chawls in the lane have been quarantined. The man’s wife and children have also been quarantined and their samples sent for testing.
Cooper Hospital dean Dr. Pinakin Gujjar said all bodies, irrespective of whether the patient had COVID-19, are wrapped in a body bag. “I am looking into this incident and will initiate action,” he said. Recently, he sacked a staffer who agreed to bathe a body at the request of a relative.
