CUTTACK: Family members of an elderly woman abandoned her body out of Covid fear at the SCB Medical College and Hospital’s isolation ward here on Tuesday. Unable to find any of them, the SCB authorities took help of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) to cremate the body on Wednesday. The 60-year-old woman of Dhenkanal district had come to the hospital for treatment recently. Suspecting her of suffering from coronavirus infection, the MCH authorities admitted her to the isolation ward and sent her swab sample for test. However, while undergoing treatment, she succumbed on Tuesday. Her test report is awaited.
The ward’s security personnel informed the family members about her death and asked them to wait till the MCH administration completed the formalities and contacted CMC officials for cremation as per the Covid protocols. But while hospital staff were packing the body, family members of the patient left the ward leaving the authorities in a dilemma. MCH staff tried to contact them over the mobile number they provided at the time of admission but the phone was switched off. Unable to contact them, the hospital authorities with help of CMC cremated the body on Wednesday.
A similar incident had occurred last month when parents of a one-year-old boy, who died due to complications not related to Covid-19 at the isolation ward, also abandoned the body. The reoccurrence of such incidents has raised question over the management and security system of the isolation ward. While around 2,200 patients have been admitted to the isolation ward, over 260 tested positive. Similarly, over 100 non-Covid deaths have been reported from the ward. Around 24 patients, who have tested positive at the isolation ward, are yet to be shifted to designated Covid hospital due to unavailability of beds, sources said. The SCBMCH authorities, however, could not be contacted to comment on the issue.