'How did hospital hand over body without checking COVID report?'

CCTV footage shows society members taking Gupta's body to the cremation ground

Days after attending the funeral of a pregnant woman from Kandivli West, her relatives and members of the society where she lived, got to know that she was COVID-19 positive. The hospital she was admitted to after developing symptoms, had mentioned in her death certificate that she died of a natural cause. But after her last rite, which was attended by more than 300 people, the family got to know that she had contracted the virus.

Twenty-eight-year-old Neha Gupta was admitted to Cooper hospital on July 18 after she developed high fever and cough. However, she died during treatment two days later. The hospital authority handed over her body to the family and issued a death certificate mentioning the cause as natural. Later, her relatives and society members got to know that she was COVID-19 positive when officials from the R/South municipal ward arrived at her home to take her family members to a quarantine centre.

A woman from the building where Gupta resided said that it was a case of negligence. "If any member of the society gets infected and even if one of the 300 people who attended the funeral dies, the hospital should be held responsible. How did they hand over the body without checking her COVID-19 test results? As the certificate mentioned it was a natural death, hundreds of people attended the funeral," she added.

Neha Gupta, who died

Charkop constituency president of MNS, Dinesh Salvi told mid-day, "I have written to the government and police, and have demanded an FIR against the doctor concerned and the hospital management."

While Gupta's father and husband have been sent to a quarantine centre, her mother and sister are in home isolation. When contacted, Dr Sandeep Bansode from the R /South ward, said, "From the daily line list received from hospitals on July 23, we got to know that Neha Gupta's COVID-19 report has come positive."

However, even after repeated attempts to contact Cooper hospital dean Dr Pinakin Gujjar, he remained unreachable.

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