Kin of deceased should carry a picture of their loved one to morgue to claim the body: Eatala

Hyderabad: A day after a wrong body was handed over to the relatives of a deceased patient at Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad, the Telangana health minister Eatala Rajender has issued new directives to the mortuary wing, making it mandatory that those collecting the body should carry a photograph of the deceased.

The new procedure to be followed is the hospital staff should click a picture of the deceased, a copy of which will be shared with the mortuary staff. While handing over the body, the relatives of the deceased will be asked to produce a photograph and if they both match, the body would be given to the kin.

The direction comes after a family alleged that the body of their dear one went missing.

On June 10, the family of a 35-year-old man, who succumbed to Covid-19, alleged that his body had gone missing from the mortuary. According to the family, the man, who used to run LifeCare Medical Hall in Hyderabad’s Mehdipatnam area, was shifted to Gandhi Hospital on June 8 after he tested positive for Covid-19.

Two days later, his relatives were informed that the man succumbed and were asked to identify his body at the hospital mortuary. To everyone’s shock, the body was missing.

“Till 5 pm they made us wait outside the mortuary. There were around 12 bodies in the morgue but we couldn’t find our brother’s body,” said the family.

Investigation revealed that on the intervening night of June 10, two Covid-19 patients, Anwar and Saleem (names changed ) succumbed to the infection. Anwar’s family reached Gandhi Hospital early on June 10 to collect the body. They were shown a photograph on a mobile phone in which the face of the deceased was not clearly visible. However, the family identified Saleem as Anwar and buried the body.

Hours later, Saleem’s family approached the mortuary and found the body missing. By then, he was buried. Later on, Anwar’s family was called to hand over the body taken by them.