Amidst the Covid-19 scare, social media witnessed a graphic video doing the rounds where patients suffering from the coronavirus can be seen lying next to corpses wrapped in body bags. The gut-wrenching clip circulating on social media is from Sion Hospital. The hospital is run by the city’s municipal corporation. It happens to be one of the major hospitals handling Covid-19 patients in Mumbai. In the video, we can see at least seven bodies lying around. Simultaneously patients are being treated in beds parallel to each other. Family members of the patients affected are also seen visiting them. However, they seem unfazed by the bodies as well like it is a regular affair.
The Hospital dean Pramod Ingale stated that the relatives of the deceased were reluctant to take the bodies home. As a consequence, the bodies were kept there unattended. He added that the bodies have been removed now, furthermore stating that probe into the matter will be conducted to get a clear picture of the situation. Ingale was further questioned about why the bodies were not shifted to a mortuary. In his answer, he stated that there are 15 slots in the hospital mortuary. 11 out of 15 were already filled. Hence, if they shift all the bodies to the morgue it will turn out to be a problem for the bodies of those who died of causes other than COVID-19.
The hospital authorities, when questioned, stated that the video may have been filmed while the authorities were waiting for the consent of the families to move the body. Furthermore, they said that once a body is packed in a body bag there remains no possibility of the infection spreading. However, these clarifications did little to diminish the sheer horror of death and decay permeating within the hospital halls.
An MLA of Maharashtra’s opposition BJP, Nitish Rane tweeted the video expressing shock and anger over the incident.
In Sion hospital..patients r sleeping next to dead bodies!!!
— nitesh rane (@NiteshNRane) May 6, 2020
This is the extreme..what kind of administration is this!
Very very shameful!! @mybmc pic.twitter.com/NZmuiUMfSW
Former Union Minister, Milind Deora, a leader of the Congress Party also tweeted expressing anger over the incident. Expressing outrage, he demanded Mumbai’s administration to step up their game in order to provide better health care facilities for the patients.
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