Bengaluru ESIC hospital chief loses job over Covid victim bodies rotting in morgue

Bodies of two COVID-19 victims, who died in July 2020, were found "rotting" in the Employees' State Insurance Corporation Hospital (ESI). After the incident came to light, ESIC headquarters removed the dean of Rajajinagar ESCI, Dr Jeetendra Kumar JM.

Bengaluru:The Ministry of Labour on Wednesday removed Dr. Jeetendra Kumar JM, director and dean of Bengaluru ESIC hospital where bodies of two Covid-19 victims were found rotting for 15 months. The ministry has appointed Dr. Renuka Ramaiah in his place.

The order issued by the ESIC headquarters stated, Dr. Jeetendra Kumar J M, Director Professor, General Medicine, Dean, in charge in the ESIC MC & PGIMSR, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru ,is directed to handover the charge to Dr. Renuka Ramaiah, Director Professor, and report to ESIC Headquarters on December 2 positively in the public interest.

According to hospital sources, a 40-year-old woman Durga from Chamarajapete, and a man in his 50s, Muniraju of KP Agrahara was admitted to Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital with coronavirus in June 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic and died a few days later in the following month. Since then, their bodies were kept in the mortuary as the final rites were not performed for unknown reasons.

After a section of the media reported the matter, the family came to know about the callousness of the hospital authorities. It was only on Sunday that the family came to know that the highly decomposed bodies were lying in the hospital. The bodies were recovered on November 26, at cold storage at the ESIC hospital, when workers went there for cleaning.