lucknow

Updated: Aug 27, 2017 17:43 IST

Stray dogs consumed parts of a woman’s body kept at the mortuary of the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital at Lucknow on Sunday morning.

Principal secretary (health) Prashant Trivedi took cognizance of the matter, and asked hospital authorities to submit a probe report at the earliest. Three staff members, including the security supervisor, were dismissed in this connection.

The deceased, Pushpa Tiwari, was brought to the hospital after she consumed a toxic substance on Saturday. Doctors pronounced her dead soon after admission, and the body was shifted to the hospital mortuary.

When Tiwari’s family reached the hospital to claim her body the next morning, they found parts of her skull missing. A complaint was lodged with RML authorities, after which an investigation was launched.

“UP govt has taken serious note of security lapse at RML Hospital. Services of security supervisor and guard have been terminated with immediate effect. FIR has been lodged, and an inquiry is underway to further fix responsibility,” the Uttar Pradesh government quoted Trivedi as saying in a series of tweets later that day.

Hospital director Dr Devendra Negi said chunks of flesh were ripped off the woman’s face and neck. The body was also found in a different location from where it was originally kept.

While conducting the preliminary investigation, police found canine paw-prints near the mortuary’s channel gate. “Dogs managed to get to the body because the staffers had not bothered to put it in the freezer,” a policeman said.

The FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by the deceased’s husband, Vinod Tiwari.

This is the second time in the last few weeks that the Uttar Pradesh government has come under the scanner over the dismal state of affairs at its hospitals. Several children died at Gorakhpur’s BRD Hospital between August 10 and 11 after oxygen supply was disrupted due to non-payment of dues.