Gujarat: Covid-19 man who escaped from isolation found dead on NCH campus

TNN | Updated: May 1, 2020, 08:26 IST

The man had been missing for the past two days

SURAT: A 50-year-old Covid-19 positive patient, who had mysteriously gone missing from the New Civil Hospital (NCH) on April 28, was found dead on the campus of the hospital on Thursday.
The body of Bhagwan Rana, a resident of Maan Darwaja tenement, was found near the postmortem room late on Wednesday evening.
"The hospital was informed about an unidentified body lying on the campus on late in the evening. We informed police and they confirmed after verification on Thursday that the body was of Rana," said Ketan Naik, resident medical officer at NCH.
NCH authorities said that Rana had succumbed to coronavirus infection. Rana had tested positive on April 21 and since then he was admitted in the isolation ward. But somehow, he went missing on April 28 at around 11am after which NCH authorities filed a report with Khatodara police station.
NCH officials and police had checked the CCTV footages of the hospital, but they failed to find out how he escaped and where all did he go for nearly ov er 24 hours.
"The body was sent for cremation since postmortem on Covid-19 patients is not required. There are are no injury marks on the body or any signs of suicide," said Naik.
The body will be cremated by volunteers of Ekta Trust that provides cremation service to Covid19 patients since all family members of Rana are qurantined.
The waiting area under the tin roof outside post-mortem room was sanitized by health team.
Maan Darwaja tenement in Limbayat zone is the hotspot of Covid-19. Out of the total 231 positive cases reported in this zone, around 90% are from Maan Darwaja tenement.