Patient turns +ve after death; Noida hosp sent him home after sampling
Noida: In an incident of sheer negligence on part of Sharda hospital — a designated COVID-19 hospital, a 57-year-old male symptomatic patient was sent to home after his samples were collected at the hospital and later died on Tuesday evening under mysterious circumstances. Hours after his death, his report came back positive for Covid-19.
As per reports, the male patient, a resident of Sector 82 in Noida, was showing symptoms of cough, fever and uneasiness while breathing and got himself tested at a designated Covid hospital in Greater Noida. The doctor on duty allowed him to go back home after his samples were collected. However, on Tuesday, his condition started to deteriorate and he died at his home. Nearly four hours after the death, his reports came out positive for Covid-19, which triggered panic in the area as well as in the health department.
While the family was preparing to perform the last rites, they came to know that the man had tested positive and for more than four hours, his body was kept in the house with many people having come in contact withit. As the news spread, chief medical officer (CMO) Dr DK Ohrie and City Magistrate Noida Uma Shankar reached the spot to take stock of the situation. The CMO accepted that this is breach of ICMR guidelines by the said hospital.
"As per Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a symptomatic person should be admitted to institutional quarantine after collection of samples till the test reports are out. However, it has come to light the patient was sent home after doctors from Sharda hospital in Greater Noida collected his samples and he died. He was tested positive Covid-19 a few hours later when the family was preparing for cremation. Contact tracing has been done and all the suspects are sent to quarantine. Investigation into the matter is underway," said CMO Dr Ohrie.
After the man's test reports came back, he was cremated by district administration officials by following proper guidelines of disposal of body in case of death due to Covid.
Meanwhile, the GB Nagar district administration has issued notices to as many as six private laboratories after they issued erroneous reports of 35 persons, for whom the private labs had given out false
positive reports. When retested at NIB, they were found to be negative.
Dr Ohrie said all these patients were under institutional quarantine after private hospital tests showed them to be positive. However, when cross checked by government laboratories, they turned out to be negative and were discharged from hospital. "We have issued notices to these private labs for showing erroneous reports of patients. A few of these laboratories include Lifeline, Star Imaging, Modern Laboratories and others" added the CMO.
