Families of the Covid dead allege med negligence

Grieving families who lost their relatives due to

Covid-19 are running from pillar to post to get justice from the authorities. Several family members have alleged medical negligence in private and government hospitals in the city as the reason for the deaths of their near ones.

However, they are made to approach the DMHO (District Medical and Health Officer) as the police insist that they cannot give clearance to perform post mortem examination on Covid victims’ bodies.

One such family that approached the ‘people friendly police of SR Nagar in Hyderabad, shared ‘the experience they underwent. They alleged that they were treated rudely by the police and were not given an FIR even after lodging a formal complaint. When asked about the case, the SR Nagar police officials said the family was asked to go to the DMHO and lodge a complaint as they could not take up the case. “We are still waiting for an update from the police and there was no mention of a DMHO,” said the family members of the

Covid-19 patient who died at a private hospital at Erragadda.

“The doctors at the hospital said he was going to be fine and could be discharged in two days. His oxygen levels were also good and he was talking to us well at night. However, we got a call from the hospital the next morning saying that he called the local police for help but the officer who showed up spoke to us very rudely and told us so many people were dying daily,” shared one of the family members.

Speaking about this case, a doctor from St. Theresa Hospital said many Covid-19 patients were experiencing sudden cardiac arrests. “The doctors and scientists are also confused with this factor. Their saturation levels drop suddenly and we lose the patient. We explained the same to the family as we understand their pain, but they were not ready to listen. There is no proper treatment for Covid-19 and we are doing our best,” he said.

However, when asked why the police cannot register the case instead of making the grieving families run around departments, a higher official from the Hyderabad city police said, “We cannot do that.”

“We are asked not to perform autopsy on bodies involved in such medico-legal cases. They should be dealt with the DMHO. The patient's family and their relatives can approach them and seek action, the police cannot help them with this,” said the official.