Hospital searching for corona victim’s body after family given wrong one

It is said, Balakrishnan (46), a carpenter, residing at Keezhapalayam near Pattukkottai was admitted to Pattukkottai GH, on May 2, where he tested positive and was referred to the Thanjavur medical college. 

However, on May 5, he succumbed despite treatment and the body was handed over to the family. 

The family, who was organising the funeral at Pattukkottai, found that it was someone else’s body when they were asked to take a final look during the cremation. The family members, who confirmed it, took the body back to the Thanjavur medical college and requested the authorities to give Balakrishnan’s body. 

However, even after five days, the hospital authorities did not give a proper response. “When we took that particular body and informed it to the persons in charge at the mortuary, he was not responding properly but maintained to pacify us and send us away from the hospital,” said Balakrishnan’s wife Sangitha. Sangitha has been staying at her brother’s house in Thanjavur and waiting for a prompt response from the hospital. ““I want to look at my husband’s face one last time and also give him an honourable funeral. I will stay here until I receive the body,” she stressed. 

When DT Next contacted the Thanjavur Medical College Dean Dr G Ravikumar, he said that the body was handed over to the relatives after verification by the family members as per the protocol. “They have also signed in the register after receiving the body but later in the afternoon, they returned it stating that it was the body of a stranger. So, we have ordered for an inquiry,” he said.