The Telangana High Court asked the state government if a Covid-19 patient was ‘dead or alive’ after his wife filed a petition alleging that her husband was missing. She said that she had received no official communication about him and on the contrary been told contradictory versions of his whereabouts.
The court's reaction came over a Habeaus Corpus petition, moved by a 33-year old woman claiming that her husband, who had tested positive and was being treated at the state-run Gandhi hospital, had gone missing.
Her 42-year-old husband was admitted to the hospital on April 30 with bilateral pneumonia and ARDS.
Later, the woman and her children also tested positive and were shifted to the same hospital. According to the woman, she last spoke to her husband on the afternoon of May 1, following which his phone was found switched off. She enquired with the hospital multiple times and each time she was told that her husband was being treated in the ICU ward.
The woman, from Vanasthalipuram area in the city, narrated her ordeal on social media. Soon after her tweet went viral on May 21, the state government clarified that her husband died while under treatment on May 1.
The woman, reportedly, was informed on May 2 that her husband succumbed to the virus but was not shown his body, neither was given any more details. She had also called the local police on May 4, who had then told her that the cremation had already been done.
However, later when the woman and her children were discharged on May 16 and she called the hospital’s nodal officer again, she was told that her husband is still under treatment and would be discharged in 2-3 days. A call to the local police only fetched some vague answers and no clarity.
Soon after her tweet went viral, the hospital had issued a clarification saying the family was informed about the death and body was handed over to the police as per protocol and was cremated by municipal authorities.
“If the family is not coming forward, for any reason, then cremation is done by municipal authorities,” Dr. RajaRao, Gandhi Hospital Superintendent said earlier.
However, the health minister had clarified that the deceased’s immediate family was not informed as they were under Covid-19 treatment and it would have pushed them into a shock. Keeping in mind their health, the deceased’s relatives were informed and they suggested that the team should go ahead with cremation, the minister said.
About eleven members from the same family had tested positive and the area of their residences have been declared as containment zones.
“No relatives have said that they got any official confirmation. On May 20 also, when the woman called up the officials, they gave her vague answers. Why was she misled saying he is under treatment when he died almost 20 days ago? And, what do they mean by ‘informed’ people? There needs to be an official communication sent to the family. Nothing of such sort was done,” K Karunasagar, the petitioner’s advocate told News18.
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