Swapping of bodies: BR Singh forms 3-member panel to probe goof-up

Kolkata: Sealdah's BR Singh Hospital has formed a three-member committee to conduct a probe into the alleged goof-up in which some of its staff members are said to have swapped the body of a non-Covid patient with an infected one.

A senior official of the hospital said the committee will find out if there was any negligence on the part of its staff members.

The official also tried to put the blame on the civic body which had already cremated the body of the non-Covid patient.

It was learnt that the hospital staff members who attached the tag to the bodies and put numbers after they were wrapped in the protective gear might have committed a mistake. As the number allotted against one body might have been attached to the other, it resulted in an exchange.

One Kalpana Bhagat, a resident of Howrah, was admitted to the hospital on August 1. She died while undergoing dialysis. Her swab sample was sent for Covid test and the report came negative on Friday. When the family members received the body, they found that it had been exchanged with another woman who had tested Covid positive.

The hospital later came to know that the KMC had already cremated the body.