Thane Hospital Hands Over Wrong Body to Family
A family cremated the wrong body, due to a Thane hospital’s gross mismanagement.
A 67-year- old man named Janardhan Sonawane was admitted to the TMC run Thane Global Impact Hub in Kalwa. On 3rd July at 6:30 am his son Sandeep received a call from the hospital informing him that Janardhan had died of COVID-19. Sandeep said, "We reached the hospital immediately. The body was wrapped in a PPE suit and the face was not visible. We could not tell the hospital staff to show us the face as it was not advisable because of the risk of infection. We were advised to wear a PPE suit to conduct the last rites. We all were broken after the loss.” Sandeep then added, "On 6th July evening I received a call from the hospital. The staff told me that my father was alive. I thought somebody was joking with me. I disconnected the call. But they called again and told me to visit the hospital. I told them that I will come the next day. On 7th July morning the Kapurbawdi police called me and said the same story. I was shocked I never thought something like this could happen to me.”
The family came to know that Janardhan is alive and the body they cremated was of another man named Bhalchandra Gaikwad aged 71. This case of gross mismanagement by the hospital caused unnecessary grief to two families. When Sandeep rushed to the hospital, Sandeep saw his father in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He said, "I was really shocked but was also very happy to see my father alive. I identified my father and the hospital staff told me to sign a document which had written something on it in English which I don't understand."Bhalchandra Gaikwad, the person who had really died, his son-in-law Ravindra Salvi said that the hospital staff is trying to hush up the matter. Salvi said, "My father-in-law Bhalchandra Gaikwad tested positive for Covid- 19 and was admitted to the hospital on 29th June at 10 pm. He died on 3rd July. The hospital staff told us that on the same day four people had died and they got a little confused. They handed my father-in-law’s body to someone else. They even conducted the last rites. This is really shameful. The hospital is now trying to cover up.” Dr. Yogesh Sharma incharge of the hospital said that they registered a missing person complaint for Bhalchandra Gaikwad at Kapurbawdi police station. An internal enquiry is going on and they are asking staff members to answer on how this incident happened but they have not got any result on it still. A source at the hospital said that the hospital has only 30 per cent staff. All the hospital workers including doctors and nurses are overstressed. There are more than 640 Covid-19 patients admitted in the hospital.
