Over 15 months after their deaths, the bodies of two COVID-19 victims were discovered at the ESI hospital mortuary in Rajajinagar, Bengaluru. When staff went to clean the cold storage on Friday, November 26, the dead were discovered. The dead bodies are believed to have remained in the cold storage without being cremated as per policy due to the neglect of the employees and doctors.
According to reports, officials planned to cremate the bodies because one of the deceased’s family and relatives had no interest in taking the body for final rites. In the second case, the authorities were unable to locate the whereabouts and family of a deceased person.
Durga (40), a Chamarajpet resident, and Muniraju (35), a Bengaluru resident, were identified by tags. In July 2020, both were hospitalized to ESI for coronavirus therapy. As they succumbed to the fatal infection, their bodies were moved to an ancient mortuary before being turned over to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for cremation. The civic agency was required by COVID-19 policy to cremate the victims’ bodies and not to return them to their families.
Six cold storage rooms are available at the ESI hospital’s old mortuary. During the COVID-19 outbreak, however, keeping the dead remains at the mortuary became challenging for hospital officials. A new morgue was built by the government and opened in December 2020. These two bodies stayed in the old mortuary’s freezers after the new mortuary opened owing to negligence.
When cleaning the old mortuary, the cleaning crew noticed an odour coming from the freezers and discovered remains. The issue has been taken up by the Rajajinagar police, who are attempting to locate their family. Durga’s husband died, and her family has expressed no interest in receiving her body, according to officials. Muniraju’s family members were being tracked down by the police.
The public has reacted angrily to the news, accusing the ESI hospital staff and doctors of gross negligence in the disposal of deceased bodies.
Suresh Kumar, a Rajajinagar MLA, has written to Karnataka Labour Minister Shivram Hebbal, asking for a high-level investigation into the occurrence. He claims that the ESI hospital and the BBMP are to blame for the neglect and that a level investigation should be conducted.
