Did BBMP miss out Covid patient who died at home?
Questions: Did private hospital inform BBMP? Did civic officials try to trace patient and his contacts?
Education Minister’s Facebook post says man had switched off his mobile; Rajajinagar BJP workers had to obtain the death certificate and get him cremated
BENGALURU:
BBMP’s claims about a beefed-up Covid contact tracing system have come into question after an incident where an infected patient died at home, and neither he nor his primary and secondary contacts were accounted for in the civic agency’s system.
The incident has come to light following a Facebook post by Rajajinagar MLA and Education Minister S Suresh Kumar.
In his post, Suresh Kumar narrated the entire episode of how the patient went home after coming to know he was infected and switched off his cellphone. The patient died at home and his wife was clueless on how to conduct the last rites. Even the deceased’s kin who came from Mysuru did not step inside the house.
The Minister said he had to ask his party workers to provide the required help, and only after obtaining a death certificate from BBMP was the body cremated.
Translated Facebook post
Below is the translated (and edited) Kannada post of the Minister:
“The incident happened yesterday (Friday), in a village near Talaghattapura on Kanakapura Road where the husband and wife lived. The husband died of Covid… and there was no one to perform the funeral.
“One of my journalist friends gave me this information. Immediately, I called our party workers of Rajajinagar and told them to provide the necessary help.
“When our activists inquired, it appears the deceased person went to a local hospital last week after he complained of a fever. After he tested Covid-positive, he came home and switched off his mobile, went inside his room and slept.
“Yesterday evening, his wife went inside the room and found her husband dead. The shocked wife did not know what to do. Later, a neighbour’s family called the husband’s brother-in-law in Mysuru.
ಇದನ್ನೂ ಓದಿ: ಕೊರೋನಾದಿಂದಾದ ಮೃತಪಟ್ಟ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯ ಅಂತ್ಯ ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ ಮಾಡಿದ ಯುವಕರ ಸೇವೆ ಅನುಕರಣೀಯ https://kannada.thebengalurulive.com/minister-suresh-kumar-praises-exemplary-service-from-bjp-workers-to-cremate-covid19-deceased/
“They came in a car from Mysuru but didn’t step inside the house due to fear of corona and slept the whole night inside the car…Dead body in one room, wife in the hall, brother-in-law in the car outside… Nobody knew what to do next.
“Yesterday, our Rajajinagar workers contacted the local health officer and received a death certificate from him and arranged for the final rites at the Kengeri crematorium.
“Not even a single family member dared to perform the last rites at the Kengeri crematorium or pay their last respects to the body.
“Finally, I salute our BJP workers Girish, Lingaraju, Umesh and Praveen, who performed the last rites with courage and a good heart.”
Where & how did BBMP fail?
From the Minister’s post, it is apparent that the person got himself tested in a private hospital, realized he was infected, came home and died. The obvious questions that follow are: Did the private hospital where he got tested inform BBMP officials about the case? Did BBMP officials even try to trace the patient with the help of his given address despite his switching off his cellphone? Did BBMP officials attempt to trace the deceased’s primary and secondary contacts? Factual answers to these questions could throw more light on how efficient the civic administration is in its mission to control the spread of the virus in Bengaluru.
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