Mumbai: Shocking video shows coronavirus patients in hospital ward lying next to corpses wrapped in body bags [Watch]
Mumbai: Shocking video shows coronavirus patients in hospital ward lying next to corpses wrapped in body bags [Watch]
A horrific video recorded on a mobile phone displays Covid-19 patients in a hospital in Mumbai lying next to dead bodies wrapped in body bags. The shocking video, which was making rounds on social media, is from Sion Hospital, which is managed by the city’s municipal corporation and is one of the main hospitals taking care of coronavirus patients in Mumbai.
More than six corpses can be seen in the ward as patients are attended in adjoining beds, some patients have family member looking after them and they seem to be used to the sight.
BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, shared the video on Wednesday with the comment, "In Sion hospital, patients are sleeping next to dead bodies!!! This is the extreme…what kind of administration is this! Very very shameful!!"
On of the Congress leader, also expressed anger, "Outraged to see corpses laid beside the sick at Sion Hospital. Why isn't BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) following WHO prescribed protocols when disposing of COVID-19 corpses? Public hospital staff are doing their best with limited resources at hand. Mumbai's administration needs to step up NOW!" - tweeted Milind Deora.
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Sion Hospital dean Pramod Ingale stated that relatives of those who lost their lives due to coronavirus were hesitant to take the dead bodies. "That is the reason why the bodies were kept there unattended. We have now removed the bodies and are probing the matter," he told news agency PTI.
On why the bodies were not taken to a mortuary, the dean said, "There are 15 slots in the hospitals mortuary, of which 11 are already filled. If we shift all the bodies to the mortuary, it will be a problem for bodies of those who died of causes other than COVID-19."
The clip, said hospital officials, may have been filmed when they were waiting for the permission of families to shift the dead bodies. They stated that once a body is wrapped in a body bag, "there is no scope of the infection spreading". The clarification, however, did very little to reduce the sheer awfulness of patients sleeping next to dead body.
The state of Maharashtra has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in India, which is close to 16,800. The number of cases in Mumbai is 10,714, over 400 have lost their lives.