Now hospital staff ‘refuses to touch’ AIDS patient body

Later, the authorities claimed they were unaware of the ruckus. “I do not know of any such development as I was not in the hospital. But according to rules, the casual staff are supposed to tend to a dead body. We are already investigating if the patient was thrown out of the hospital after admission. We will also look into this,” said Professor Anup Roy, Medical Superintendent cum Vice-Principal.

The patient died around 9.15 am on Sunday in the emergency ward, but the ordeal of his relatives continued. According to rules, the body of an HIV- infected patient has to be wrapped in a plastic sheet. At 1 pm, the ward master asked the relatives to remove the body. But the staff reportedly refused to cooperate. Uma, the victim’s wife, and their neighbour Biswanath Jana finally had to wrap the body themselves and carry it out to the truck.

“We begged the Group D staff and the casual workers to cooperate. The body lay for hours at the ward. The casual staff refused to touch the body,” said Uma. The relatives of the patient and NGOs working in the field also alleged that the hospital authorities were responsible for the patient’s death.

“If the patient got treatment at the right time, he would have survived. But he was thrown out and treatment was delayed. We have already sent a complaint to the state Health Department and will file a PIL in the Calcutta High Court,” said Tarit Chakraborty, President of the Bengal Network for Positives.