india

Updated: Apr 27, 2020 23:04 IST

The death of a woman in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district who later turned Covid-19 positive too, triggered fear among the already declared hotspot that many people who participated in her last rites may have contracted the infection as she was not buried as per the Covid-19 protocol.

The family of the deceased alleged that the Maternity and child care hospital in Anantnag, where the 32-year old woman delivered dead twins and shortly died herself on Saturday, did not follow the proper protocol as they handed over the body to her family before the test results were out, due to which a large number of people attended her funeral in Kharpoora (Already declared hotspot) area of Anantnag.

Her tests came out positive late on Sunday, a day after she was buried.

The family alleged that the doctors at the hospital were negligent as they delayed her treatment on Saturday citing that she had come from a red zone. “She was left unattended for nearly 2 hours, after which she delivered two dead children, and shortly died herself too,” a relative said.

“A probe is underway as the attendants of the woman have accused doctors of negligence. Regarding the SOP, the doctors had properly wrapped the body and advised the attendants of social distancing, however, the release of the body before the test result is a lapse which people have to answer,” said principal Government Medical College, Anantnag, Shaukat Jeelani.

The relative added that “The doctors are lying when they say that the body was properly wrapped. They also did not advise us anything. We washed the body and around 100 people attended the funeral.”

The authorities have now quarantined three doctors and the two paramedical staff who came indirect contact with the woman and also started quarantining the people who participated in her funeral.

Deputy commissioner Anantnag Basher Ahmad Dar, “Enquiry is under way. On the basis of findings, action will be taken. No body will go unpunished if found involved in negligence and dereliction of duty”.

In the southern district of the Valley, over 50 cases have been reported so far out of which two are pregnant women.

Health authorities of the maternity hospital said that the woman’s twins were a case of Intra-Uterine Death (IUD) and the probe will make clear the sequence of events.

“The probe will make clear everything about her death as well as the protocols. On our part, we followed the Covid protocols, wrapped her properly and gave instructions to her family not to wash her and maintain social distance while performing her last rites. What they did was beyond our control,” said medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Mir Ji Andrabi.

The incident has created a fear among the localities and even people are also questioning the administration as to how the pregnant woman directly reached the maternity hospital from a red zone and how a large number of people were allowed to gather for her funeral.

“Not only the health dept but also district admin should be questioned… when the village of the deceased lady has been already declared as red zone…How these people came out of their houses and participate in the funeral???,” questioned a netizen.

Kashmir reported its first case on March 18 and it was not until April 15 that the Anantnag district reported its first Covid-19 positive case.

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