NMMC hosp hands over wrong body, probe on

Three days after a dead labourer tested negative for Covid-19, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) Hospital at Vashi has failed to hand over the body as it could not find it in the morgue. On Monday, the labourer’s friend learnt that the hospital had handed over the body to a mason, thinking it to be his teenage daughter who died of jaundice on May 4.

Hospital superintendent Dr Prashant Jawade did not respond to repeated calls and texts. The civic body has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Umar Farooq Shaikh, 29, a construction worker who lived in Ulwe, was found dead inside his house on May 9. Upon finding the body, Imran Khan, 26, Shaikh’s friend, took the body to NMMC Hospital, Vashi, for a Covid-19 test.

“The hospital authorities told me to keep the body in the morgue until we get the test report. On Saturday night, they called me to inform that he tested negative and we can claim the body,” said Khan. But when Khan went to the mortuary on Sunday morning, the staff told him they could not find the body.

After Shaikh’s friends gathered at Vashi police station demanding action, hospital authorities started scanning CCTV footage to check if the body was handed over to someone else. On Monday, the hospital told the police about a body which had not been claimed. The police then contacted the Dighabased mason, Dashrat Suryawanshi, and sent him a photo of his daughter’s body which is still in the morgue.

Suryawanshi’s daughter had died on May 4, following which the body was taken to NMMC hospital for Covid-19 test. “On May 14, they verbally told me her report was negative and showed me her face from afar. The body was wrapped in a plastic bag with a bedsheet on top,” Suryawanshi said.

Dr Babasaheb Sonawane, NMMC health officer, said, “I am following up on the case. It is impossible that a body would be misplaced from the hospital morgue which has constant CCTV surveillance and security. It could be possible that the morgue numbers may have been mismatched. I am in touch with the in-charge doctors to ascertain what exactly happened.” NMMC commissioner Annasaheb Misal said he has initiated an inquiry. “I have ordered an inquiry into the incident. The report has not been presented before me yet. A case has been registered at Vashi police station,” Misal said.

Sanjeev Dhumal, senior inspector from Vashi police station, said, “We have not registered an FIR yet. The incident has been reported to us and we are conducting an inquiry.”