Covid +ve man jumps to death at AIIMS campus

NEW DELHI: A 37-year-old man infected with Covid-19 allegedly jumped to his death from the fourth floor of the AIIMS trauma centre in Delhi, where he was being treated, on Monday afternoon, the hospital said. The man was a health reporter with a national daily and was admitted to AIIMS on June 24 after testing positive for the virus. He had been actively reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Devendra Arya, deputy commissioner of police (south-west), the man ran from the first- floor ICU to the fourth floor using the stairs. While there was no clarity on how exactly he broke the glass window, the DCP said that it was possible that he smashed through it by the sheer force of his body. “We rushed him in an ambulance to the hospital’s ICU to try to revive him, but he passed away at 3.35 pm,” the hospital’s statement said.the man did not leave behind any note. “He repeatedly asked us for help [on Whatsapp]. It appears he had turned hysterical,” said a friend who didn’t want to be identified.

Dr Aarti Vij, the chairperson of AIIMS’ media and protocol division, said the man had been having “bouts of disorientation” for which he was being seen by a neurologist and a psychiatrist and put on medication.

A senior police officer said inquest proceedings into the death had been initiated and the circumstances leading to his death will be probed.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Varshan, said on Twitter that he had ordered the AIIMS director to “immediately constitute an official inquiry into the incident”. “...a high-level committee has been set up & shall submit its report within 48 hours,” he said while offering condolences to the journalist’s family. Rajat Mitra, a clinical psychologist, said his hysterical messages could be a case of “paranoid delusion” due to an accident or a host of different issues.