TIRUCHY: A 101-second video doing the rounds on social media caused a furore in Tiruchy on Thursday. The video showed an ambulance of a private hospital carrying out the burial of a patient who died of COVID-19. The hospital has filed a police complaint against those who 'cropped' the video.
The video shows an ambulance worker clad in a PPE kit, along with two others who are not wearing PPEs, lifting the body and the three then fling it down. The video doesn’t show where it was flung. After lifting the body, one person asks, "Should we get down,” to which another says, “We can’t” and then another voice says, “Just push it down”.
The video was shot on June 16th at Kottamedu. The patient was a 74-year-old man from Cuddalore. This video was widely circulated on social media with people saying they were shocked at the treatment meted out to the deceased.
The hospital immediately objected to this and issued a statement. They have also filed a complaint at the Samayapuram police station.
The statement issued by the SRM Hospital Dean states that the video is cropped and is totally false. “The burial ceremony took place near Irungalur as per government protocol. The deceased person was handled with due respect and was not dishonoured,” read the statement.
The hospital then shared photos but the ‘complete’ video wasn’t shared however.
“We have given a complaint to the Collector and SP. This is a cropped video and has been circulated with a malicious motive. It will demotivate government officials sincerely involved in fighting COVID-19,” said Dr N Balasubramanian, Dean of SRM Medical College Hospital.
Tiruchy’s Superintendent of Police, Ziaul Haque, also called this a mischievous video.
“The burial was done as per protocol. Police officials were also present. We will be sending this to the cyber-crime unit to find out who doctored the video. We will be filing an FIR soon,” said Haque.
An enquiry is also being done by JDHS Tiruchy. While the video may be cropped, another cause of concern is that two people involved in the burial were not wearing PPE kits.