Decomposed body kept for over 24 hours

VELLORE: The case of a dead body being kept for over 24 hours in the emergency ward of Sholingur GH, without shifting the body to the mortuary, has shocked people in the district. The body was that of a 60-year-old woman, who died of chest pain. According to reports, the corpse was removed only after decomposition set in, filling the entire ward with stench.While the incident shows the complete lack of respect for the dead on the part of hospital authorities, it also caused panic amongst the 10 patients in the ward who worried about the spread of diseases. Rani (60) of Narayana Chetty Street in Arakkonam was admitted to the women’s ward hospital last week after she complained of fever. Hospital sources said that her husband, Kumar (64) had accompanied her to the hospital and had been taking care of her. After her death, he had left the hospital to bring a vehicle to transport the body, but didn’t return. Authorities at the hospital then discovered that the patient admission form did not contain any contact numbers and also that the residential address mentioned did not exist. Enquiries revealed that Rani was a flower seller and that the man who had admitted her was not her original husband. When Bharathi, the Chief Medical Officer at the hospital was contacted, she said that the body was shifted to the emergency ward from the female ward soon after the woman’s death. According to her, the body was not moved to the mortuary as staff waited for the ‘husband’ to return. She claimed that relatives of the dead often compalined if the hospital shifted bodies to the mortuary without their permission. Contradicting her version of the incident, the doctor on duty,  Dr Pari, denied the allegation and said that the woman had expired on February 23 at around 3.15 pm and that she was immediately shifted to the emergency ward, which is located next to the mortuary. According to his version of events, the body had lain outside only for 45 minutes, after which it was shifted to the mortuary. According to Sholinghur SI, Mohan, the woman died at around 11.45 am on February 24. He added that, the police  decided to treat the body as unclaimed and sent a report to the Sholinghur Panchayat Union, which arranged to bury her.