Ahmedabad: 24 hrs after cremation, kin gets call from hospital 'to discharge the member' 

In a new gaffe by the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, a family who lost a Covid-19 suspected member kept getting calls of the member testing negative and ready to be discharged. 

On May 30, Nilesh Nikte, a marketing executive living in Nikol area of Ahmedabad was first shocked and then flustered after he kept getting repeated calls of his father-in-law, Devram Bhisker of being tested negative and ready to be taken home. The only problem with that was Nikte had cremated his father-in-law 24 hours prior. 

Since, according to the guidelines, the covid-19 suspected and positive patients who lose their lives in the fight against the pandemic are covered in PPE and other sheets to avoid contamination of others performing the last rites. Nikte confesses that he was baffled and started questioning whether he had actually cremated his father-in-law or someone else. 

Read: Ahmedabad COVID-19 Tally Up By 256 To 11,097; 19 More Die

Read: Lack Of Teamwork, Coordination At Ahmedabad Civil Hospital: HC

On May 29, 70 year old Devrambhai was declared dead and the body was given to the family members. On May 30, Nikte got a call from Civil Hospital authorities at 7am stating that they are free to take Devrambhai back home since his report had come out negative for corona virus. Shocked, the entire family rushed to Civil Hospital to sort out the matter and authorites figured out that the call centre had not been updated of Devrambhai's condition and hence they were sending out calls to the Nikte family. But even after this, Nikte stated that he still got repeated calls from the civil hospital at 2pm stating again and demanding the family to take the patient (Devrambhai) back to their house since he had tested negative.

"This is such mental torture , the authorities have no idea. I have nothing against doctors, but this kind of miscommunication takes a toll on the members of the patients family. I was in self doubt that whether I actually cremated my father-in-law or someone else. And if so, where is my father-in-law? Even after speaking to the authorities, this kept happening," Nikte told Republic TV. 

While addressing this issue to the media, Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI) - where Devrambhai was admitted stated that "the family was trying to be contacted since the evening of the death of the patient and we were only trying to communicate that the patient had tested negative for coronavirus. But the death had taken place due to severe diabetes. However, this was a lapse in communication nothing else," Dr Shashank Pandya of GCRI.