No Covid tests on dead bodies in MP

No tests being done on those who died with symptoms

BHOPAL:No body brought to Bhopal hospitals has tested positive for Covid-19 since April 29, when the body of a 61-year-old man from the Budhwara neighbourhood in Bhopal tested positive for the virus. That’s because no body brought to Bhopal hospitals since that day has been tested for Covid-19.

Between March 22 and April 29, five bodies brought to Bhopal hospitals tested positive for Covid, according to state health department officials.

The situation is no different in other important cities in Madhya Pradesh which, at one time, was among the most affected by the disease n the country. Indore was perhaps the first hot spot in the region. Yet, this distinction is marred by the fact that the state seems to have stopped testing bodies of those suspected to have died of the disease.

On May 19, a 52-year-old man, employed by the government, died in Bhopal apparently because of a heart attack. His 26-year-old son said, “No Covid test was conducted on my father even after his death though he had the symptoms of the disease.” His aunt and one of her family members, both of whom had met with the father, tested positive.

Rachnia Dhingra, co-founder of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said there was no transparency in tests of suspected Covid deaths. “An elderly person from Bagh Umrao Dulha locality died on May 21. Later, the hospital told his family that his test report came negative; four members of the family later tested positive,” she said.

The hospital communicated orally with the family members and didn’t give them the report.

The Madhya Pradesh health department’s bulletins showed that till April 29, Bhopal had 483 Covid patients and 14 deaths. By June 15, the number of Covid patients increased to 2,235 and deaths to 72. Bhopal’s Covid death rate was 2.95% on April 30, which rose to 3.77% on May 15 and came down to 3.22% on June 15.

Between April 29 and June 15, not even a single body brought to the Bhopal hospitals tested positive for Covid, said a senior health department official who didn’t want to be named.

A spokesperson for Bhopal’s biggest government hospital, Gandhi Medical College, Dr Parag Sharma, said three bodies tested positive for Covid in Hamidia hospital (which is associated with the college) but admits that this was before April 29. “We conduct tests on bodies if there are clear indications that the person died of Covid,” he said.

In Ujjain, another hot spot, seven persons brought dead to the hospital tested positive according to the district’s chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr Anusuiya Gawali Sinha then, but this was in March and April. Sinha was transferred on May 11, a week after a BJP corporator died of Covid-19 in the city, prompting local BJP leaders including local MLA, Paras Jain, to seek chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s intervention.

“Since May 1, no body brought to Ujjain hospitals has tested positive,” Sinha said. Her replacement Dr Mahavir Khandelwal confirmed this, but insisted that bodies of people who were suspected to have died of Covid-19 were still being tested. He did not provide details of the number of bodies tested since April 29.

In Indore, after reports in April said the dead were being buried or cremated without Covid tests, the government barred municipal corporations and cremation grounds from sharing information on bodies with the media. Verbal orders to this effect were issued by local authorities of Indore, Ujjain and Bhopal in the last week of April, government officials in these municipal corporations said on condition of anonymity.

Indore, the state’s commercial hub, recorded 4,069 cases and 174 deaths till June 15, the highest for any district in the state, but its death rate has fallen from 4.57% on April 30 to 4.27% on June 15. Like Bhopal and Ujjain, no person brought dead to hospitals has tested positive in Indore since April 30, officials said. Indore’s chief medical and health officer, Dr MP Sharma, denied that no tests were being carried out on such bodies, but was unable to provide data on bodies tested since May 1. Additional chief secretary Mohd Suleman and principal secretary, health department, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, didn’t respond to queries seeking comment. They also didn’t respond to phone calls and text messages.

Public health expert Amulya Nidhi said, “As per Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines samples have to be taken and tests have to be conducted on such persons who die and are found to be suspected Covid-19 patients. But the guidelines are not being followed .”

An MP health department official who didn’t want to be named said, “When a suspected -19 patient is brought dead the kin are instructed to cremate or bury the body as per standard protocol. Contact tracing is done and tests are conducted on the family but there is no Covid test on the person who has died.”