Man stealing Covid patients’ belongings caught on CCTV

Vadodara: An unidentified thief has been caught on a CCTV camera stealing the belongings of a Covid-19 positive patient admitted at the Covid ward of GMERS Medical College and Hospital at Gotri.
The hospital officials said that they had received a complaint of theft from a patient admitted at the ward located on the fourth floor of the hospital, which has been declared as designated Covid-19 hospital in Vadodara.
“The patient complained that his mobile phone and purse with Rs 3,000 cash, some cards like aadhar card among others had been stolen,” said Dr Sheetal Mistry, administrative nodal officer of Covid-19 hospital at Gotri.
“When we checked the CCTV footage, we could see a man stealing patient’s belongings from the ward. The man is not wearing any PPE kit and the incident has happened between 3 am and 5 am,” said Mistry, adding that the CCTV footage has been provided to Gorwa police for further investigation.
The burglary raises serious questions on how a person manages to freely roam inside the ward without wearing any safety kit.
“The hospital authorities had earlier too received similar complaints from patients who had verbally informed them about mobiles and wallets being stolen. The authorities had started keeping a watch on the movement of some fourth class employees but their suspicion proved to be wrong,” said Mistry.
“It seems to be the handiwork of an outsider who might have been sneaking inside the ward. So far, no patient has provided us any complaint in writing. We would hope that patients provide a formal complaint to the police and an application to us so that the formal investigation can start,” he added.
With rising incidents of thefts from the hospital, the authorities have installed CCTV cameras at three ICU wards as well.
“The ICU wards were started in a hurry. But last week we had installed CCTV cameras to keep a strict vigil. Also, we insist that patients should handover cash and their valuable possessions to their relatives at the time of admission,” said Mistry.
“But when it comes to things like mobile phones, patients keep the gadgets with them to communicate with their near and dear ones,” he added.