Bodies in patient wards: Delhi government & LNJP differ

NEW DELHI: Delhi government on Thursday denied before the Supreme Court reports about dead bodies of Covid-19 patients being kept inside wards, but it was contradicted by LNJP Hospital that admitted the lapse.

Delhi health secretary Padmini Singla and LNJP director Dr Suresh Kumar filed separate affidavits as directed by the apex court while taking suo motu cognisance of a media report about bodies being kept inside patient wards. Referring to stinging observations made earlier by a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah, the government said, “It is denied that dead bodies were kept alongside patients, in lobby and waiting areas.” It said there were clear standard operating procedures for handling bodies and taking them to the mortuary.

However, the LNJP director accepted in his affidavit that bodies were kept inside patient wards and said, “We humbly accept a few shortcomings in managing dead bodies. In future, this type of incident will not happen.”

The director of the largest dedicated Covid hospital in north India, with a capacity of 2,000 beds, pinned the blame on a contractual health worker who shot the video on his mobile phone. “A contract worker, who was not willing to do Covid patient care duty and did not want to touch bodies, made the video. Disciplinary action has been initiated against him and a detailed inquiry has been ordered into the episode,” he said.

Dr Kumar said sanitising bodies took time. Moreover, on June 10, the lift was not working, resulting in delay in shifting bodies to the mortuary, he added. However, he said the hospital was doing its best in fighting the pandemic despite having its back to the wall as far as morale of healthcare workers was concerned.

“Covid-19 is a deadly disease and most employees fear that they may get infected. So, this is actually a very difficult time for the hospital to keep employees motivated. As many as 72 doctors/nurses/healthcare workers have been infected by Covid-19. This shows how difficult it is to manage coronavirus patients and dead bodies as there is psychological fear in healthcare workers. In spite of this, LNJP is excelling in coronavirus patient care,” Dr Kumar said.

“LNJP has done outstanding work in India in managing Covid-19 patients since March 17 despite losing two healthcare workers, one ICU technician and another staff to the disease. Over 3,000 Covid positive or suspect patients have been admitted to the hospital, of which 2,013 have been treated and discharged,” he added.

Delhi government, in its affidavit, said there was enough burial and cremation facilities available with the three municipal corporations. The SC asked the state government to detail its patient discharge SOP during the hearing on Friday.