No protocol followed in burial, dozens attend her funeral

Anantnag: A woman pregnant with twins who died on Saturday in Anantnag due to alleged medical negligence has been tested positive for COVID-19, taking the Covid-19 death toll to seven across Jammu and Kashmir.
On Saturday afternoon, the woman from Kharpora area of Larnoo was rushed to the MCH after she developed some complications. Her family alleged that the doctors at the hospital did not even touch her and made fun of her because she came from a red zone.
Now what is worrying people and administration here in Anantnag is the fact that the lady was not given a proper protocol deemed fit for the Coronavirus victims. Her body was sent home in a local vehicle and a couple of hundred people unaware that she was COVID-19 positive attended her funeral prayers in Kharpora area of Larnoo Anantnag district.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Anantnag, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, said he was not aware of all this.
“I don’t know whether she has tested positive or not. I don’t know what happened at the hospital after she died,” the CMO said.
The Kharpora area was declared a red zone on Friday evening after 10 out of 14 were recorded positive in the area.
The authorities had randomly picked up 42 samples from the village after it was known that a girl from the village, presently stuck in Nowgam (also a red zone) has tested positive.
“This pregnant lady, however was not included in those samples. Her samples were taken only after she died at the Maternity and Child care hospital in Anantnag,” COVID-19 nodal officer for Anantnag, Peer Farhat Faraz, told Kashmir Reader.
He confirmed that the lady has tested positive today and the reports of samples taken from Kharpora area were awaited.

Suhail A Shah