ETV Bharat Impact: AIIMS suspends employee, health official over swapping of COVID-19 bodies

After ETV Bharat reported a case of swapping of the wrong COVID-19 dead bodies by All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti took the cognizance of the matter and force the hospital authority to take serious action against the officials involved. The hospital authority has terminated an employee and suspended the health officer involved in the case.

New Delhi: Hours after ETV Bharat reported a case of swapping of the wrong COVID-19 dead bodies by All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, the hospital authority has terminated an employee and suspended the health officer involved in the case on Wednesday.

According to reports, two women had died due to COVID-19 while undergoing treatment at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, following which the bodies were swapped and given to the wrong families.

The women were from different religions, and unfortunately, the final rites of one deceased had already been conducted as per the other religion's customs before the mix-up came to light.

The matter came into limelight after the brother of the deceased Muslim woman asked the officials to allow him to see the face of his sister for the last time.

• Met Dr. Amit, MS, AIIMS Trauma Center in connection with this unbelievable n criminal act of swapping dead bodies of 2 ladies of different religions.AIIMS has suspended one and terminated another staff of mortuary and has setup one committee under Dr. Roy of AIIMS to investigate. https://t.co/5q884nOsyw pic.twitter.com/XcOASDmw1y

  — Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) July 8, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Met Dr. Amit, MS, AIIMS Trauma Center in connection with this unbelievable n criminal act of swapping dead bodies of 2 ladies of different religions.AIIMS has suspended one and terminated another staff of mortuary and has setup one committee under Dr. Roy of AIIMS to investigate. https://t.co/5q884nOsyw pic.twitter.com/XcOASDmw1y

  — Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) July 8, 2020

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  Met Dr. Amit, MS, AIIMS Trauma Center in connection with this unbelievable n criminal act of swapping dead bodies of 2 ladies of different religions.AIIMS has suspended one and terminated another staff of mortuary and has setup one committee under Dr. Roy of AIIMS to investigate. https://t.co/5q884nOsyw pic.twitter.com/XcOASDmw1y

  — Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) July 8, 2020

"They informed us at around 2 am (July 7) that she had died at 11.10 pm the previous night. They asked us to go to the cemetery and said that they would hand over the body there. I requested them to at least show me the face as I am the victim's brother, but they refused," said the brother of the Muslim victim.

The family also claimed that they were threatened by the security guard when they wanted to speak to the authorities about the mix-up.

When ETV Bharat reported the negligence, Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti reacted promptly over the issue and took the cognizance of the matter and talked to the hospital administration about the incident.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Bharti said. "I called the AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, but he refused to talk over the matter. Then I speak to some other official. Earlier, they denied of such incident in their hospital. Later, they accepted such negligence by the AIIMS. This is a shameful incident that a woman was buried as per other's religious custom. I will lodge a complaint against the officials involved in the incident and make sure that those who had been concerned would face severe punishment."