Angul: Family members of a deceased person had to wait for as long as 14 hours to receive the body from Angul district headquarters hospital (DHH).
Expressing their displeasure, the deceased’s family alleged that the DHH authorities first neglected in treating their patient and then kept them waiting for 14 hours to receive the body. The body was handed over to them Sunday evening only after the deceased’s swab sample came out to be negative for COVID-19.
But why it took so much time for the report to arrive, they asked.
Sudarshan Barik, aged 65, a resident of Hulurusingha had met with an accident June 26. In a serious condition, his family members admitted him to the DHH. Later he was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Cuttack as his condition deteriorated further.
In view of the increasing number of coronavirus-infected patients at SCBMCH, he was sent back to Angul DHH July 6.
At Angul DHH, he was admitted into orthopaedic department. He was shifted to coronavirus isolation ward July 10. Though his swab was collected July 8, his report did not come till Saturday. Meanwhile, he breathed his last Saturday night.
The fear of COVID-19 has gripped everyone so much so that the hospital authorities neither sent the body to morgue nor conducted postmortem Sunday morning.
The DHH keeping the body unattended for 14 hours left the family members fuming. Dillip, son of the deceased, alleged that his father died only due to the DHH’s negligence. He said the DHH had no answer to his question as to why his father’s swab report took so much time to arrive.
The swab report arrived at about 4pm and it tested the deceased as negative for the infection. Then only the body was taken for postmortem.
When contacted, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Dr Abhay Kumar Das said, “The swab sample was collected July 8 and sent for test the next day. But the report took time to reach as the testing centre was being sanitised. This was why the postmortem got delayed.”
PNN