After his father died due to COVID-19, a man in the Indian city of Noida, was forced to prepare the body all by himself, because there was no medical staff to help him. Twitter users in India, this weekend, shared news reports about the 68-year-old man, who died after being refused admission by three hospitals, saying that cases of “medical apathy” seems to be increasing in the city.
According to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, a probe was ordered into the death of a the elderly patient, who had to shuttle between three hospitals, including the state-run Government Institute of Medical Sciences in Greater Noida, to give his sample for a COVID-19 test. He returned home where he died a few hours later before the result came, on June 8.
Apparently, the son alleged that he received no help from medical authorities to prepare his father’s body for a burial.
In a Whatsapp message circulating on his residential society’s group, the son wrote: “He gave his sample around 12.45pm at the private Sharda Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 facility, and was found positive for the infection in the report the next day.”
He added: “My father died at 6.05 am the next day. As my father’s test results were still awaited, no one could suggest what to do with the body. As a COVID-19 suspect, no one wanted to come forward to help either,” he said.
Reportedly, the message also said that he could procure his father’s test result only at 5.30pm, nearly 11 hours after his death, after making a lot of effort.
He wrote: “Subsequently, after endless follow ups, we were given a body bag at 7.30pm to pack the body ourselves. With no helping hands around, I and my wife wore PPE (personal protective equipment kit) and packed the body with only the ambulance driver pitching in to help.
“The last rites were performed at 11 pm at the Sector 94 crematorium,” he added in the Whatsapp message.
Facebook user Riti Agarwal, shared the story and said: “Why is there such medical apathy? Whom should we depend on during such times for medical support? I understand that medical staff are overworked, but that’s not an excuse for not helping a person whose father died.”
Tweep, @samarth9pl tweeted: “So, do authorities expect common people to know the rules of handling bodies of COVID-19 patients?”
According to officials, government rules stipulate that the body of any COVID-19 positive person has to be handled by local administration and packed in a body cover.
Noida, or Gautam Buddh Nagar’s Chief Medical Officer Deepak Ohri said that the “matter was being looked into” and the “matter would be probed”.
According to PTI, when contacted, Sharda Hospital spokesperson Ajit Kumar said: “We have only followed the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines and the patient left on his own for home quarantine.”
ICMR protocols provide that a person with COVID-19 symptoms has to be first tested and then admitted after the result is found positive, but sent home if it is negative.
It also states that asymptomatic people can go home after a test but need to stay quarantined at their residence till the result is not out.
