Bengaluru, Nov 29, : Two Covid patients’ bodies were discovered 15 months after their deaths at Rajajinagar, ESI hospital mortuary, Bengaluru. The authorities planned to cremate the bodies on Monday because the relatives and family of one of the deceased didn’t show any interest in the body for final rites.
The police were unable to locate the family or whereabouts of another deceased person.
Three days ago, the bodies were found in the cold storage after workers went to clean it.The dead bodies are believed to have remained in the cold storage due to the negligence of doctors and staff.
The bodies were identified by tags: Durga (40), a Chamarajpet resident, and Muniraju (35) a K.P.resident.Agrahara in Bengaluru.Both were admitted at the ESI hospital in July 2020 for treatment of Corona infection.
Their bodies succumbed to the deadly disease and were transferred to an old mortuary for disposal by the BBMP.The Corona victims’ bodies were to be cremated by the BBMP, a civic agency.
The bodies were not handed to their families.
Six cold storages are available for dead bodies in the old mortuary at ESI hospital.
However, the hospital authorities found it difficult to keep the bodies at the mortuary after the increase in Covid deaths.
The government had built a new mortuary.It was inaugurated in December 2020.These two bodies were frozen in freezers until the new mortuary began to function.
Cleaning staff went to clean the old mortuary and noticed a foul odor emanating from freezers.Rajajinagar police took up the case and attempted to track down relatives.Durga’s husband has died and her family has not expressed interest in taking her body.Police were trying to find Muniraju’s family address.
This development has drawn strong reactions from the public against ESI hospital staff members and doctors for their utter negligence in handling dead bodies.
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