Dead Body mix-up row at Gandhi Hospital

A mix-up in which two bodies were interchanged by staff at the mortuary in Gandhi Hospital,Hyderabad led to angry protests by relatives of the deceased on Saturday evening. The mortuary staff handed over an unidentified body to the relatives of Venkatesh, 30, who committed suicide on Friday, our correspondent reports. They did not follow regular procedure on completion of post-mortem and ask the relatives to identify the body of the deceased before handing it over. The relatives realised that they were handed the wrong body only at the crematorium, when they were about to perform the last rites.

Infuriated relatives rushed to Gandhi Hospital with the body in tow and protested at the mortuary. Hospital officials tried to apologise but Venkatesh’s relatives were by then staging a dharna. Authorities blamed the family for not identifying the body. The Chilkalguda police backed the hospital staff, contending that it was the responsibility of the relatives to identify the body. No case was booked, the police said.