New Delhi: In an incident that triggered outrage in public, bodies of 22 COVID-19 sufferers have been stuffed in one ambulance whereas they have been being transported to a crematorium in Maharashtra’s Beed district. The district administration cited lack of medical transport autos as the explanation for it.
The bodies, stored in the mortuary of the Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Government Medical College at Ambajogai in Beed, have been being transported for the final rites. The incident led to an outrage among the many public forcing the Beed district administration to hurry to the spot and look into the matter.
“This happened because the hospital administration does not have enough ambulances,” the medical faculty’s Dean, Dr Shivaji Sukre, informed PTI on Tuesday. He mentioned that they had 5 ambulances through the first wave of COVID-19 final yr. Out of them, three have been later withdrawn and the hospital was now managing the transportation of COVID-19 sufferers in two ambulances. “Sometimes, it takes time to trace the relatives of a dead patient. The bodies from the COVID-19 centre at Lokhandi Sawargaon village are also sent to our facility as they don’t have a cold storage,” the official mentioned.
He mentioned they wrote to the district administration on March 17 to offer them three extra ambulances. “To avoid the chaos, we have also written to the Ambajogai Municipal Council to conduct the last rites of the victims between 8 am and 10 pm and the bodies will be sent to the crematoriums from the hospital ward itself,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, BJP MLC Suresh Dhas alleged that the hospital and the native civic physique have been passing the blame on one another.
Ambajogai Municipal Council’s chief officer Ashok Sabale mentioned it was the accountability of the medical faculty to move the bodies to the crematorium on Mandwa highway (designated for the final rites of COVID-19 victims). “Our teams are there at the crematorium for conducting the last rites. A meeting was held on Monday over the issue during which the medical college dean said they do not have enough ambulances. If it is the case, didn’t they have any review mechanism? Why didn’t they act on it?” Sabale requested.
