Body left in rain for 2 hrs, tests awaited

IN ANOTHER INCIDENT, OFFICIALS CARRIED A COVID PATIENT’S BODY FOR BURIAL ON A TRICYCLE

BENGALURU:THE video of a body of a suspected coronavirus disease patient allegedly being left in the rain in Karnataka’s Ballari district has gone viral.

According to locals, the victim died late on Wednesday at the Taluk Government Hospital in Hospet, while the test results for a SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infection) were awaited. While being transported for burial, his body was left in the rain for two hours, Lokesh, an auto driver in the area, said.

The Deputy Commissioner of Ballari district, SS Nakul, however, denied the allegation and said that the standard operating procedures for burial of suspected Covid patients were followed. “Since the hospital was not a Covid designated hospital, the staff handling his body took some time to wear PPE to ensure protocols were followed during which the body was left outside for about 15 minutes.”

The locals have alleged that the body was left in heavy rain for nearly two hours while the people responsible for the burial took cover.

In a similar incident, officials carried a Covid patient’s body for burial on a tri-cycle, in Hospet.

A district hospital official who did not want to be identified said, “There was opposition to the burial of the Covid patient’s body at the graveyard as there are houses nearby. To circumvent the opposition, we had to take the body on a tri-cycle inside [the graveyard] after it was brought in a hearse to a nearby spot. This was only for the last leg of the journey.”