Relatives made to establish physique of Covid affected person in morgue, Tamil Nadu hospital orders motion

A hospital in Tamil Nadu has ordered motion after members of the family of a person, who succumbed to Covid, had been made to enter the mortuary and establish his physique. When the kinfolk entered the morgue, they reportedly discovered many our bodies of Covid victims had not been disposed however stored there.
The incident befell on the Theni Government Medical College and Hospital within the state.
On Saturday, the person, 47, belonging to Periyakulam in Theni had complaints of breathlessness. On admission to the hospital, it was discovered he was Covid-19 constructive however succumbed to the an infection on Monday night.

On reaching the hospital mortuary on Tuesday to assert the physique, the kinfolk had been requested by the safety to seek out the physique by themselves.
The video and pictures of the incident have gone viral on social media. Many slammed the hospital administration for his or her carelessness. The kinfolk, within the video, had been seen not carrying any PPE fits and even masks correctly, which was a breach of Covid protocols.
Theni hospital authorities admit lapses
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Dr Balaji Nathan, Dean of the Theni hospital, admitted that the incident is a transparent safety breach and departmental motion has been initiated in opposition to three officers who had been current on obligation on the time of incident.
“We keep the dead bodies of persons either tested positive of Covid-19, in a separate room but that room cannot accommodate more than three or four bodies. If we receive more bodies, we place them at a distance on the floor. Bodies that reach the room before 6 pm are immediately taken to the crematoriums in the free mortuary van and due procedure is followed for the burial. Since we cannot dispose the bodies after 6 pm, we store them in the mortuary room till the next day,” he stated.

He added, “On Monday evening, the said person died and his body was kept in the room alongside 15 other bodies, due to the lack of space and naturally piled up. Only one relative is allowed alongside our staff to identify the body but on Tuesday the security and two attendants in charge of the mortuary had allowed more than four relatives. It is a clear security lapse,” he stated.
Two inquiries — one inside and an in depth probe by the top of the division, forensic medication and resident medical officer — had been performed. Dr Nathan stated after it was discovered that three officers didn’t adequately carry out their duties and a departmental motion has been initiated in opposition to the 2 authorities employees members.
Separately, he has written to the regional supervisor of the involved safety company to take away the safety individual on the mortuary from the service.
“To prevent such an incident from occurring again, we are planning to set up a big temporary shed with a rack facility to accommodate more bodies in the mortuary. Also, we are taking steps to attach tags to the bodies before sending them to the mortuary room thereby preventing the relatives from entering the mortuary to identify the bodies,” the dean stated.

When requested concerning the stories of our bodies not correctly wrapped as per the rules issued by the Health Ministry, he stated they observe the federal government pointers of overlaying the physique with double-wrapped thick polythene blue sheets.
“We are following the guidelines to make sure there is no leakage of body fluids. We have ordered zip lock body bags but the vendor has not delivered them yet due to the high volume. We will get that as soon as possible,” he stated.