B’luru: ESIC Hospital director removed after bodies of Covid victims found rotting in morgue for 16 months

PTI, Dec 2, 2021, 10:39 AM IST

Image Credit: ANI

Bengaluru: After two bodies of Covid victims were found rotting at ESIC Hospital here, the Ministry of Labour on Wednesday removed Dr Jeetendra Kumar J M, the director professor and dean of the hospital at RajajiNagar, and appointed Dr Renuka Ramaiah in his place.

According to hospital sources, a 40-year old woman and a man in his early 50s were admitted in Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital with coronavirus in June 2020 and died a few days later in the following month.

Since then, their bodies were kept in the mortuary as the final rites were not performed for unknown reasons.

The family of the victims were misled into believing that the last rites of the bodies were performed whereas the corpses were left to rot in the morgue for over 16 months.

After a section of the media reported the matter, the family came to know about the callousness of the hospital authorities.

It was only on Sunday that the family came to know that the highly decomposed bodies were lying in the hospital.

The order issued by the ESIC headquarters said, ”Dr Jeetendra Kumar J M, Director Professor, General Medicine, Dean, in charge in the ESIC MC&PGIMSR, Rajajinagar, Bengaluru is directed to handover the charge to Dr Renuka Ramaiah, Director Professor and report to ESIC Headquarters on December 2 positively in public interest.”