Rourkela: Tension mounted on the Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) premises Wednesday after the government railway police (GRP) picked up a wrong body from its morgue and buried it on a nearby riverbed.
Instead of burying the body of an unidentified youth, police mistakenly took an elderly man’s body and laid it to rest.
On the other hand, a group of people including former councillor Anup Samal and BJD leader Arati Choudhury met chief medical officer (CMO) Ramchandra Pradhan and demanded the body of the elderly man for identification.
They also sought suspension of the personnel who were responsible for such gross negligence. The situation was brought under control after the CMO assured them of a probe into the incident.
According to reports, the railway police rescued a 35-year-old youth from the local railway station and admitted him to RGH in a critical condition Friday.
However, the youth died while undergoing treatment Sunday. The hospital staff then kept the body in the morgue.
On the other hand, former Koel Nagar councillor Samal and his associate Rajesh Prasad brought an ailing 60-year-old to the hospital in an ambulance the same day. The elderly man didn’t survive and his body was also kept at the morgue.
Meanwhile, GRP came to the morgue Wednesday and took the body of the old man instead of the youth. They conducted post-mortem of the body and buried it on the riverbed at Vedvyas.
After a few hours, Jhirpani police along with Samal and his friend arrived at the morgue for the identification of the body of the elderly man. To their shock, the hospital staffer handed over the youth’s body to them.
When queried, the staffer said the old man’s body has been taken away by the GRP.
Astounded by the clarification, Samal and others met the CMO and demanded the body of the elderly man.
The CMO said the GRP are responsible for such negligence.
Action would be taken if any of the hospital staff is involved in the incident while details of the deceased would be tagged to the bodies in future to avoid such confusion, he added. PNN
