India News | MP Rights Panel Notices to Health Officials over Body Mix-up

Indore, Sep 30 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) has sought a report from two divisional- level health officials regarding a goof-up that led to the body of a COVID-19 patient being handed over to a wrong family at a hospital here, an official said on Wednesday.

The MPHRC official said the commission has issued notices to the health departments joint director and the chief medical and health officer (CMHO) here, seeking a report on the embarrassing episode.

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The COVID-19 patient had died at a private hospital in the city and his body was packed in a special bag and handed over to members of a family on September 26 without actually getting it identified by his relatives, the official said.

These family members later left for their hometown Khandwa, about 135km away from Indore, with the body handed over to them by hospital staff without realising the remains were of a COVID-19-infected person, he said.

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The goof-up came to light when actual relatives of the COVID-19 victim reached the hospital to take his body, the official said.

Immediately the ambulance heading to Khandwa with the body was stopped near Barwah town and the remains were handed over to the right family, he said.

The Khandwa family later collected the body of their relative who had actually died of lung cancer, the official said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)