Health dept goofs up in declaring 93-yr-old Covid patient dead

AMRITSAR A 93-year-old Covid-19 positive man, who was declared dead by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) office of the district health department on Wednesday, has been found alive. The patient had allegedly left Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Amritsar, on Monday against the advice of the doctors for admission.

The incident came to light when the family members of Mohinder Singh, a native of Bal Kalan village on Majitha Road, started receiving condolence calls on Thursday morning, after the news of his death appeared in local newspapers.

“Mohinder visited GMCH on October 20 for stomach ache. The doctors conducted his medical tests and also collected swab samples for Covid-19 test. Singh was found positive for Covid in the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and doctors advised his family members to admit him to the hospital’s Covid ward. However, the patient and his family members left the hospital,” said Dr JP Attri, medical superintendent of GMCH, Amritsar.

He said the hospital authorities immediately informed the police about the development and also sent a report to the district health department. However, the district health department on Wednesday declared Mohinder Singh dead in its daily Covid-19 bulletin.

Talking to the media, Mohinder’s grandson Amrit Singh said, “The hospital authorities took the swab samples of my grandfather but they didn’t inform us that he was positive for Covid. My grandfather recovered from the stomach pain and we took him back. On Thursday, we started receiving condolence calls as the health department had declared him dead. But my grandfather is alive.”

Amritsar civil surgeon Dr Navdeep Singh said, “I am not aware of the incident and will conduct an inquiry.”