Karnataka: Suspected Covid patient’s body wrapped in PPE kit found in bus shelter

HAVERI: Close on the heels of the body of a Covid-19 patient being found lying on the roadside in Bengaluru, a similar incident came to light in Ranebennur of Haveri district on Saturday.
The body of a person who died of suspected Covid 19 wrapped in plastic, was found lying in a bus shelter adjacent to the Ranebennur taluk hospital in Haveri on Saturday.
Sources said that the staff involved in conducting the last rites, reportedly wrapped the body in a PPE kit in front of the public, and then kept the body in the bus shelter for more than three hours, which triggered outrage.
After wrapping the body in a PPE kit, the staff abandoned it in the bus shelter and left the place. They came back after three hours, when the video of the body wrapped in a PPE kit, lying in the bus shelter, went viral on social media.
According to sources, a 45-year-old resident of Maruti Nagar, who was suffering from fever for a week, went to Ranebennur taluk hospital for treatment. His swabs were sent for testing on June 28. He came to the hospital to collect his report around 11 am. As his results were yet to come, he went to the bus shelter to take rest. But, after sometime, he was found dead in the shelter. On being informed, the hospital staff rushed to the shelter, where they wrapped the body in a PPE kit, without taking the body to the mortuary, and left the place. After public outrage over this incident on social media, the staff went back to the bus shelter and took the body in an ambulance to perform the last rites.
DHO Rajendra Doddamani admitted that the body of a suspected Covid patient, wrapped in a PPE kit, was found abandoned in the bus shelter. “We don’t know why the staff wrapped the body in a PPE kit and kept it at the shelter, instead of taking it to the mortuary . I have ordered for an inquiry into this incident, and stern action will be initiated against those responsible,” he said.
Additional deputy commissioner S Yogishwar said that he wasn’t aware of the incident, but that he will order for a thorough inquiry.