CUTTACK: Parents of an infant who died of Covid-19 at Sishu Bhawan here on Friday left the hospital with body of the child, putting the administration in a tight spot.Hospital authorities have filed a complaint at the Lalbag police station and police are trying to trace them.

Sishu Bhawan Superintendent Saroj Satapathy said, a woman hailing from Nuagan under Dhauli police limits in Khurda reached the casualty ward of the hospital with her ailing 1.7-month infant at about 11.45 am for treatment. The infant was brought in a critical condition and doctors tried to revive him but he succumbed. She was apparently accompanied by her husband and another person. As per the protocol, the mother and child underwent antigen test and both were found infected by coronavirus.

“Going by the government guidelines, we reported the matter to Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) for providing vehicle for safe disposal of the infant’s body. While the staff were busy in preparing documents for release of the body and shifting his mother to isolation ward, the parents left  with the body from the casualty in a clandestine manner,” Satapathy said. Health workers found the parents missing from casualty at about 3.30 pm.

IIC of Lalbag police station Asutosh Mishra said police have started tracking the parents who are suspected to have left for Bhubaneswar in an autorickshaw.