The our bodies of twenty-two COVID-19 victims had been stuffed in a single ambulance whereas being taken to a crematorium at Beed in Maharashtra, with the district administration citing lack of medical transport autos as the rationale for it.
The incident passed off on Sunday when the our bodies, saved within the mortuary of the Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Government Medical College at Ambajogai in Beed, had been being transported for the final rites.
“This happened because the hospital administration does not have enough ambulances,” the medical school’s Dean, Dr Shivaji Sukre, instructed PTI on Tuesday.
He mentioned they’d 5 ambulances in the course of the first wave of COVID-19 final yr. Out of them, three had been later withdrawn and the hospital was now managing the transportation of COVID-19 sufferers in two ambulances.
“Sometimes, it takes time to trace the relatives of a dead patient. The bodies from the COVID-19 centre at Lokhandi Sawargaon village are also sent to our facility as they don’t have a cold storage,” the official mentioned.
He mentioned they wrote to the district administration on March 17 to offer them three extra ambulances.
“To avoid the chaos, we have also written to the Ambajogai Municipal Council to conduct the last rites of the victims between 8 am and 10 pm and the bodies will be sent to the crematoriums from the hospital ward itself,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, BJP MLC Suresh Dhas alleged that the hospital and the native civic physique had been passing the blame on one another.
Talking to a TV channel, the legislator from Ashti in Beed mentioned, “There is no control left and the government is not acting swiftly. The state administration has permitted ambulances to be provided from the MLA fund, but the technical sanction for it is given from Mumbai.”
Ambajogai Municipal Council’s chief officer Ashok Sabale mentioned it was the duty of the medical school to move the our bodies to the crematorium on Mandwa street (designated for the final rites of COVID-19 victims).
“Our teams are there at the crematorium for conducting the last rites. A meeting was held on Monday over the issue during which the medical college dean said they do not have enough ambulances. If it is the case, didn’t they have any review mechanism? Why didn’t they act on it?” Sabale requested.
Municipal council president Rajkishor alias Papa Modi additionally expressed concern over the incident and mentioned the identical day, eight extra our bodies had been transported in one other ambulance for cremation.
“We are going to provide one ambulance to the medical college and another two will be made available from the district administration,” he mentioned.
The official mentioned the native medical infrastructure is “stressed” as important sufferers from close by districts are additionally delivered to Ambajogai.
