KOLKATA: In the first complaint after the Bengal government allowed
Covid bodies to be handed over to victims’ kin based on a Calcutta High Court order, a Bijoygarh resident has alleged that a private
hospital on Garia Main Road handed over his father’s body to a civic agency for
cremation without informing him as he had failed to clear the huge bill. The hospital claimed the family did not contact them for two days after the patient’s death on November 1, prompting it to take this step.
The police have started an investigation after Rajib Saha, the patient’s son, lodged a complaint at Narendrapur police station.
In his complaint, Saha has alleged that his father, Rangalal Saha, died of Covid on November 1, and he learnt on Wednesday when he went to the hospital that his father had been cremated the day before. “It is strange that there was no communication from the hospital about the cremation. We were penalised for not being able to clear the hospital dues,” he said.
According to Saha, his 75-year-old father was taken to the private hospital on October 17 after testing Covid positive. His condition deteriorated after about 10 days and they were preparing to shift him to a government Covid facility but he died on November 1. “By the time my father died we were totally broke and had managed to pay only Rs 3 lakh of the total bill amount of Rs 6 lakh. But we were told to pay the entire bill to get the body released. We pleaded with the hospital to give us some time to pay a portion of the pending bills but all requests fell on deaf ears,” said Saha, a private firm employee. He alleged that his father’s body was taken to Dhapa for cremation on Tuesday and he learnt about it only when he went to the hospital on Wednesday morning.
Biman Bhattacharya, one of the owners of Remedy hospital, said none from the patient’s family had contacted them. “We waited for a couple of days after the death of the Covid patient and then handed over the body to a state-appointed agency for cremation on the third day. No one from the patient’s family contacted to inquire about the cremation,” he said. When asked whether the hospital had informed the family before handing the body to the agency for cremation, Bhattacharya said no such efforts were made.
Debabrata Majumdar, a member in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Board of Administrators (BoA), who also happens to be a neighbour of the Sahas felt it was a clear violation of the state’s Covid protocol, which says that under no circumstances can a Covid victim’s body be held back in the mortuary for non-payment of bills. “This apart there are government guidelines and an HC order which ensures that family members get a chance to be present at the crematorioum before the last rites,” Majumdar said.
Sukhomoy Chakraborty, the in-charge of Narendrapur police station on Friday said a probe is on