KURNOOL: In a blunder, Kurnool government general hospital staff buried the body of a man who tested negative for COVID-19 instead of a man found positive for the virus, leading to protests by family members of the former. District collector G Veera Pandian said a three-member committee has been formed to probe the incident.
Though officials said the incident may have happened as the two patients were having a similar name, the protesting family members asked how the authorities could perform the last rites of a 66-year-old when the age of the person whose burial was supposed to be performed was 36.
According to hospital staff, Ram Babu, 66, of Budhawarapeta in Kurnool city was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of COVID-19 on May 7 and died on May 9. However, samples taken from Ram Babu tested negative for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, a 36-year-old man from S Nagappastreet in Kurnool city got admitted to the hospital on May 9 and died the next day. His samples tested positive for COVID-19. The results of the two samples came on Monday.
On Monday night, the Kurnool GGH mortuary staff shifted the body of Ram Babu for burying at the selected site and performed the last rites as per protocol. On Tuesday morning, the relatives of Ram Babu arrived at the mortuary to receive the body but found that it was of another person and questioned the hospital staff.
The hospital staff reportedly left the scene after which Ram Babu's relatives staged a protest at the mortuary against the negligence of hospital authorities. They later staged a demonstration in front of the Gandhi statue at the collectorate demanding justice.
"I could not get a chance to perform the last rites of my father as per our tradition. The staff should be held responsible for this and action should be taken against them," Ram Babu's son Ramesh demanded.
He also alleged that the hospital authorities had entered the wrong name on the death report initially and corrected it after they pointed out the mistake.
Responding to the incident, Kurnool district collector G Veera Pandian asked the hospital authorities to probe the issue and submit a detailed report over the incident.
"A three-member committee comprising GGH superintendent Dr Narendranath Reddy, district medical and health officer Dr Ram Giddiah and Kurnool medical college principal Dr P Chandrasekhar was constituted to probe the incident," the collector said.