MEERUT: The daughter of a former master craftsman in the
Military Engineering Services
(MES) has claimed in a video addressed to Uttar Pradesh chief minister
Yogi Adityanath that her father, a Covid-19 patient, has literally vanished from the
Intensive Care Unit
(ICU) of a government
hospital
in Meerut and that there is no trace of him for days now.
The hospital, meanwhile, said that Santosh Kumar, 64, could have died about 15 days ago and may have been buried as “anonymous”.
Lala Lajpat Rai Medical College has formed a three-member team, comprising senior hospital officials, to look into the lapses.
“The team, along with findings and observations, will submit a report within 24 hours,” said Gyanendra Kumar, principal of the state-run hospital.
Kumar had earlier said, “There was no contact number of the family in the patient’s case file. We had cremated a dead body as 'anonymous'. We are trying to probe if it was the same person.” The family said they had given out all the relevant details.
Santosh had tested positive for Covid-19 on April 21 and was taken to LLRM the same day. Hospital authorities now claim that he died on April 23, two days after he was admitted.
A resident of Bareilly, since March this year Santosh had been staying with his daughter Shifa Shivangi in Ghaziabad for the treatment of his wife who had been diagnosed with cancer. The family said they had been “getting his regular health updates” over the phone. But they suddenly lost contact on May 3. Shivangi, in an emotional appeal to Yogi Adityanath, has said they need to at least find closure.
Reacting to the claim that the family was getting health updates about the patient till May 3, principal Kumar said, “There was another patient with a similar name. Ward attendants were giving out the health update of that person when asked about Kumar by his family.”
Shivangi said, “Hospital authorities have no answers regarding the whereabouts of my father. We sought CCTV footage but we are yet to receive it.”
Police have registered a missing person complaint. “A probe is on," said Vineet Bhatnagar, SP (city) Meerut.
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