Srinagar: A 65-year-old man who tested positive for the novel coronavirus two days ago died at Chest Disease hospital on Thursday. The first death in Kashmir from the dreaded novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has resulted allegedly due to the negligence of SKIMS Medical College-Hospital Bemina, which has been accused of mishandling the patient when he was admitted there some days ago.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir PK Pole has ordered a probe into whether there was negligence on part of the SKIMS Medical College-Hospital administration and whether the administration dealt with the patient as per the protocol required to treat such patients.
The accusations of laxity have also led to fears of community transmission of Covid-19 in the valley as four of his contacts from Bandipora also tested positive for the virus a day ago.
According to sources, the deceased man reported to SKIMS Bemina on Sunday (March 21) with a travel history but the doctors sent him home without testing him for Covid-19.
The administration also did not put him in the isolation ward despite the protocol to do so, said an employee of the hospital.
A senior doctor said that the negligence may have resulted in a trail of infection. “We have tracked down over 70 people, including seven doctors, who had come into contact with him. At least four have tested positive so far. All the rest have been shifted to different isolation and quarantine facilities,” the doctor said.
SKIMS Bemina has already put 13 of its employees, including two doctors and four nurses, in strict home quarantine as they had come into contact with the patient while his short stay there.
The patient was not handled as per protocol required to treat such patients. Despite knowing his travel history, the hospital administration did not bring him to the notice of Divisional/ District/ Police authorities when he left without being admitted, Divisional Commissioner PK Pole said in an official letter.
Saying that the patient had been allowed ample time to spread the virus, Pole has asked the hospital administration for an explanation.
Additional Commissioner Tassaduq Hussain will lead the inquiry into the alleged negligence and he has been asked to initiate necessary action in this regard against the Medical Superintendent of SKIMS Bemina and HOD Chest Medicine at the hospital.
A native of Sopore in north Kashmir, the deceased was a religious preacher affiliated with Tableeghi Jamaat, an organisation headquartered at Banglawali Masjid in Delhi’s Nizamuddin neighbourhood. It has a vast network of mosques around the world and encourages followers to spend up to three months in religious service and visiting mosques.
The deceased had travelled to different parts of the country before returning to Kashmir on March 16. He had attended many religious gatherings including one in Andaman and Nicobar Islands which was attended by scholars from Indonesia and Malaysia.
Among the locations visited by the deceased were Darul Uloom Deoband in UP, Bangawali Masjid in New Delhi, and a mosque in Jammu’s Samba, before he took a flight to Srinagar. Upon his arrival in Srinagar, he also visited a neighbourhood mosque, where he came in contact with others.
As he went unchecked by doctors he continued his trail of infection and visited the Jamaat centre in Sopore in north Kashmir where officials say he came in contact with several people, who are now being tracked to check for symptoms and possible infection.
All through this time, officials say, the man was coughing and sneezing. He visited three major hospitals in Srinagar. At one of these, the man had concealed details about his travel history.
Doctors at CD Hospital told Kashmir Reader that the deceased had many underlying ailments, including diabetes and hypertension, and he died due to cardiac arrest at around 8.30AM on Thursday.
“We tried our best to save him but his other ailments complicated his medical condition,” the doctors said.
Medical Superintendent of Chest Disease Hospital, Dr Saleem Tak, told Kashmir Reader that the body has been handed over to a special team of doctors and paramedics deputed by the Chief Medical Officer, Srinagar.
The team shifted the body to Sopore Hospital in a police escort. It was wrapped in a sealed disinfected bag and ferried in ambulance as per the protocol of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, he said.

Manzoor ul-Hassan