COVID Patient Missing For Two Weeks Found Dead In Hospital Toilet

Mumbai: Two weeks after he went missing, the decomposed body of a 27-year-old tuberculosis patient, who had also tested positive for coronavirus, was found inside a toilet at a hospital at Sewri here.

The deceased was identified as Suryabhan Yadav.

Even though the toilets are supposedly cleaned regularly and also used by other patients, the body remained unnoticed for 14 days, Indian Express reported.

Taking cognizance of the matter, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has ordered an inquiry and issued a notice to 40 hospital staffers of the ward.

As the body was badly decomposed, the hospital could not identify the gender of the deceased initially. After looking into their records, it was found that Suryabhan Yadav, had been missing from the same ward since October 4. “We had filed a missing report then. But it is common for TB patients to go absconding from hospital,” said Superintendent Dr Lalitkumar Anande.

Yadav was admitted to the hospital after testing COVID positive on September 30. It is suspected that on October 4 he went to the toilet and collapsed due to breathlessness.

While Dr Harish Pathak, head of forensic department at KEM hospital, said Yadav died due to natural causes.

Senior Police Inspector Sunil Sohoni of RAK Marg police station told The Indian Express, “We will call hospital staffers for questioning to understand how this happened. We initiated an investigation to determine if there is any foul play.”