Where is my husband, tweets Hyderabad lady; he’s dead and cremated, comes reply from doctor

Image for representational purpose only

HYDERABAD: Surprising and shocking stories continue to emerge since the advent of coronavirus. In one such unusual development in Hyderabad, a lady, who herself is admitted as a COVID-19 patient, tweeted to Telangana Chief Minister's son KT Rama Rao, who is also a cabinet minister, about her missing husband.

On Wednesday (May 20) evening, the lady posted a tweet saying that her husband is missing and urged the minister to help her.

@KTRTRS
Missing case of my husband at Gandhi hospital....
Hello K. Taraka Rama Rao sir,
Myself madhavi w/o Madhusudhan(age:42) living with two daughters in vanasthalipuram.
As our family members being suffering from corona had admitted in Gandhi hospital & we all had — Alampally Madhavi (@AlampallyMadha3) May 20, 2020

However, the reply of Dr M Raja Rao, who is the Superintendent of Gandhi Government Hospital, the main hospital treating COVID-19 patients, gave the exact details about her husband, along with a totally different perspective on what is happening in the cases where COVID-19 patients pass away and their families refuse to take dead bodies and how authorities have to cremate the dead body on their own.

Raja Rao's reply provided detailed information about Allampally Madhavi's husband Madhusudhan, who was COVID-19 patient was admitted to Gandhi Govt Hospital on April 30 at 7.45 pm along with his other family members. 

However, Madhusudhan died on May 1 at 6.03 pm.

"In response to the Twitter message from Smt Alampally Madhavi resident of Vanasthali Puram, that her Husband is missing from Gandhi Hospital, I would like to clarify the facts. Late Madhusudhan aged 42 years was admitted to Gandhi Hospital on 30/4/20, at 7:45 pm with a positive diagnosis of COVID, and as his condition was serious (bilateral pneumonia with ARDS), in spite of best efforts he could not be saved and expired on 1/5/20 at 6:03 pm. As per procedure the family members were informed and as a protocol, the dead body of COVID patients are handed over to Police, and, they in turn hand over the body to the family, if the family is not coming forward for any reason cremation is done by the GHMC. In this case, also the body was handed over to the police, and the signature of the police who handed over the body also taken. On inquiry, the body was cremated by GHMC. Later other family members were also admitted with COVID in Gandhi Hospital. All due procedures were followed, we sympathise with the family but it is wrong to defame the hospital and Doctors and other staff who are treating hundreds of Carona cases risking their lives," [sic] the reply from Dr Rao read.

Another aspect to note here is the "denial" of the family to even accept the COVID-19 patient's dead body and cremate it, which seems to be the case of Madhusudhan who had to be cremated by the police and officials after due procedures.

The health department officials while speaking to Zee Media pointed out that this is the issue they face in some cases when a COVID-19 patient dies. The family is not ready to accept the dead body and it happened in this particular case too.