Bihar: Postmortem gets delayed for want of Covid-19 test report

PATNA: As there has been a spike in coronavirus cases in state, people are hesitant in helping those meeting with an accident and lying injured on the road. Even unclaimed or unidentified bodies brought by police are left unattended at autopsy houses in government hospitals out of Covid-19 fear.
Digha police station SHO Manoj Kumar said police had to wait for at least a day for postmortem of an unclaimed or unidentified body because it has to be tested for Covid-19 first.“Postmortem is conducted only after the persons concerned get a negative report about the body lying on the table,” he said.
Bihta police station SHO Awadesh Kumar Jha said those conducting postmortem are apprehensive and ask several questions from the police and family members like if the person had fever or any Covid-19 symptoms before death.
Buddha Colony police station SHO Ravishankar Kumar said its taking some time to get postmortem done, especially if the body is unclaimed or unidentified as Covid-19 test has to be conducted first. He said police were also facing problem in getting ambulance on time for rushing any injured or ill person to hospital. “It is due to the pandemic as well as demand for ambulances,” he said.
A person who conducts regular postmortem in a government hospital at Patna told TOI that the postmortem on a man killed in road accident five days back was conducted only after his Covid-19 test result came negative. “We remain extra cautious while conducting postmortem if the deceased was ill or unidentified or unclaimed. We use PPE kits in that case,” he said.
Nalanda Medical College’s forensic medicine and toxicology department head Dr Mukti Nath Singh told TOI that doctors and staff involved in postmortem were waiting for four to five bodies to come so as to conduct their postmortem together. “We have limited supply of PPE kits. Covid-19 test is not conducted on all bodies. If a body arrives in the evening, we wait till more bodies arrive. We handle all bodies assuming that they were Covid-19 positive,” he said.
Anil Kumar Singh, a sub-inspector at Jakkanpur police station, said those on duty inside postmortem house ask various questions like from where the body had been brought from. “We face trouble in getting postmortem done easily due to the pandemic,” he said. Singh said another problem is getting an injured or unconscious person admitted to a hospital immediately.
“Five days back, an unidentified and unconscious person was found near Mithapur bus stand. He had been looted after feeding him something laced with sedatives,” Singh said. Police had a tough time in getting him admitted at PMCH as hospital staffers asked questions. “They were not ready to admit him at all,” he said.
Singh said one more person was found unconscious at the bus stand two days back. “We took him to a private hospital near our police station, but he was admitted just because it was under our jurisdiction. Thankfully he recovered,” Singh added.