A shocking case of medical negligence has come to light from the country’s premier medical institution, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.

A resident of Kailash Nagar in Ghaziabad, 52-year-old Kusumlata was admitted to AIIMS-Delhi due to poor health. She died on Sunday evening, following which a body was handed over to Kusumlata’s family the next morning.

Owing to her samples testing positive for the novel coronavirus, kin cremated the body handed over to them as per Hindu rituals at the Punjabi Bagh crematorium.

It was only on Tuesday evening that Kusumlata’s kin received a call from AIIMS telling them that they were mistakenly handed over the body of another patient while Kusmlata’s body was still at the hospital. Shocked and grieving, the family members went to AIIMS, collected Kusumlata’s body and finally cremated it.

Officials later revealed that the body handed over to them earlier was that of Anjum, a resident of Bareilly.

Anjum’s relatives had admitted her to the AIIMS Trauma Centre on July 4. She was tested and turned out positive for Covid-19. During the course of treatment, Anjum succumbed to the infection at 11 AM on July 6.

Her kin was informed by the hospital administration about her death at around 2 PM that same day. The family prepared to bury her at a cemetery in Delhi but realized that the body handed over to them was not Anjum’s. Family members immediately alerted AIIMS-Delhi and came to know that Anjum’s body had been mistakenly handed over to Kusumlata’s kin who cremated it as per Hindu rituals.

Following the incident, the AIIMS administration has suspended two mortuary employees. Kin of both the deceased, however, claim that this negligence should be met with legal repercussions. A complaint has been given to the Delhi Police in this regard but an FIR is yet to be registered.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti also arrived at AIIMS, Delhi and met with family members of the two deceased women. Bharti also discussed the negligence with the hospital administration and demanded an investigation in this regard.