*New Delhi:* A 40-year-old man presumed dead showed up much to the surpriseof his family, a week after they had performed a funeral mistakenlyidentifying a decomposed corpse as his body. The goof-up took place afterthe state-run RK Hospital declared the body of a man named GoverdhanPrajapat, who was under treatment at the hospital, as unidentified’ andlater Omkar Lal Gadulia’s relatives wrongly took possession of that body atRajsamand district in Rajasthan.
Gadulia, a liquor addict, had gone to Udaipur without informing his familyon May 11. He was admitted to a hospital owing to some liver-relatedproblem. Gadulia’s family was living with his brother after thecoronavirus-inducedlockdownlink,police said. On the same day, Prajapat was taken from Mohi area to the RKHospital by an ambulance service arranged by some public representatives.He died during treatment, they said.
We had got a letter from the hospital authorities that a body was lyingunclaimed at the mortuary for three days. We then circulated photographs ofthe deceased man on various fronts to identify the body, Kankroli policestation SHO Yogendra Vyas told PTI. He said over a dozen people came to thehospital on May 15 to identify the body. Police were informed about it andthe family members gave in writing to hand over the body to them withoutconducting any post-mortem.
The family members wrongly identified the body to be that of Gadulia goingby a similar scar on his right hand and appearance, and the police handedover the body without conducting any post-mortem and DNA test. The body wasidentified by the family members. DNA testing and post-mortem by a medicalboard are conducted when the body is unidentified following which the bodyis usually handed over to the municipality for cremation, Vyas said.
The body was taken away and the final rites were performed on May 15itself. However, Gadulia returned home on May 23 and was shocked to learnthat he was believed dead.
Later, the police launched an investigation and identified the body whichGadulia’s family had cremated as that of Goverdhan Prajapat. Police werenowhere at fault in this case. The body was declared unidentified by thehospital authorities, Vyas said.
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Meanwhile, the hospital authorities admitted that the whole incident was agoof-up on part of the nursing and mortuary staff. There was a huge patientload. The patient was admitted to the hospital through 108 ambulanceservices. The incident took place due to a lack of coordination between thenursing and mortuary staff. Appropriate action will be taken in the matter,Principal Medical Officer of RK Hospital, Lalit Purohit said.
Prajapat is survived by three children, who had been sent to a welfare homeafter his health deteriorated. His wife had left him due to his healthissues, police said.
Source:link
