COVID Patient Goes Missing From SCB, Kin Allege Inaction By Odisha Police

Jagatsinghpur: A 70-year-old COVID patient has been missing from SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for two weeks now, but police are allegedly refusing to register a complaint.

According to reports, Gandharb Jena, a resident of Jhanapala near Kujang, was first admitted to Paradip COVID hospital. After his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to SCB on May 21.

Then on May 28, Jena’s family members went to SCB to inquire about his condition, but could not find him. The hospital staff too failed to give any satisfactory answer about the patient’s whereabouts.

Family Version

Following this, Jena’s three daughters first tried to lodge a complaint with Kujang police in Jagatsinghpur district, but they didn’t accept it.

Instead, the sisters were advised to approach Mangalabag police in Cuttack as SCB came under their jurisdiction. But Mangalabag police also refused to file an FIR, the daughters alleged.

Police Clarification

The Kujang IIC, Parao Tudu, said the case didn’t come under their jurisdiction,

On the other hand, the Mangalabag IIC, Amitabh Mohapatra, claimed that no one from Jena’s family has come to the police station to lodge a complaint. “If an FIR is received in this particular incident, police would register a missing case and launch an investigation,” Mohapatra was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.