Carry photo of COVID-19 patient to claim the body: Eatala Rajender

Health minister Eatala Rajender ordered the mortuary wing to make it mandatory to those who collect the dead body of COVID-19 patient must show a photo of the deceased. This comes after the authorities of Gandhi Hospital handed over the wrong dead body to the deceased family. However, it came to light after the last rites of the patients were held.

The mortuary staff will have a picture of the deceased which should match with the photo produced by the family member. If both match, the body will be handed over, said the minister.

On June 10, a 35-year-old man identified as Rashed Ali Khan died of coronavirus at Gandhi Hospital. However, his family failed to trace the dead body in the mortuary. They alleged that the staff made them wait outside the mortuary for hours but failed to trace the body.

Later, it was found that two patients including Rashed had succumbed to the virus on the same day and Rashed's body was handed over to another patient's family. By the time, the matter was found out, the man was buried.