Body of COVID-19 patient, admitted to Ahmedabad hospital on 10 May, found at bus stop five days later; Gujarat CM orders probe

The body of a COVID-19 positive patient who had been admitted to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on 10 May was found at a bus stop in the city on Friday, according to several media reports. The patient, Gunvant Makwana, who was suffering  from respiratory problems, was admitted to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital’s COVID-19 isolation ward on 10 May after displaying symptoms of the disease, as per a report in Scroll. [caption id=“attachment_5614681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Gujarat Police. AFP[/caption] His son Kirti received a positive test report by email three days later. “For three days, I had no idea about my father’s condition, because no one is allowed to visit the isolation ward and the hospital had told me to go home,” Kirti, a labourer at a textile mill, who lives in Ahmedabad’s Danilimda neighbourhood told Scroll. Then, on 15 May Kirti received a call from the Danilimda police station, asking him to pick up his father’s body from the postmortem room of SVP Hospital, a public hospital which is six kilometres away from Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Scroll reported. Police said Makwana was an asymptomatic COVID-19 patient who’d filled in the home isolation form on 15 May, per a report in the  The Times of India. Makwana, who was being taken home in a bus with five other patients, asked the bus driver to stop and said he’d walk to his home, the police further told the newspaper. Follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak here Dr MM Prabhakar, the officer on special duty at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, told The Quint, “The patient had very mild symptoms and as per new protocols, he was asked to home quarantine. He was discharged on 14 May. When he was being discharged, he was adequately fit.” Prabhakar further told The Quint, “The hospital’s transport system took him from the hospital but probably because the road was congested near his house, he was dropped at a neighbouring bus stand. It is not immediately clear whether his family members were informed about his discharge.” Gujarat chief Minister Vijay Rupani has ordered a probe. Rajiv Gupta, ex-additional chief secretary, health department, will conduct the inquiry and has been asked to submit his report in 24 hours, The Times of India reported. Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani took aim at the Rupani administration on Twitter, demanding that the chief minister take “moral responsibility” and step down.