VISAKHAPATNAM: Due to negligence of NTR Hospital authorities in Anakapalli, two dead bodies got swapped. The family of a victim ended up burying the wrong body.
Sabbavaram police on Saturday exhumed the body and collected identifications before burying it again.
NTR Hospital superintendent Sravan Kumar has initiated an inquiry into the incident.
According to reports, Srinivas of Munagapaka (55), a chronic alcoholic and TB patient, had disappeared from home six years ago. When people found Srinivas in an unconscious state in Anakapalli on July 10, they admitted him to the NTR Hospital, where he died on July 12. As his identity had not been known at the time, hospital authorities shifted the body to the mortuary.
In another incident, an unidentified man died in a road accident near Anakapalli on July 11. Since no one claimed the body, it had also been kept at the NTR Hospital mortuary.
Meanwhile, the wife and relatives of Srinivas came to know that he had died. They arrived at the hospital to claim the body. The hospital staff mistakenly showed Srinivas’ wife body of the accident victim. She too mistook the body as that of her husband. Srinivas’ family then took away the body and buried it.
The mix-up came to light when Sabbavaram police came to the mortuary for conducting an inquest into the accident case. They were surprised when Srinivas’ body was shown to them.
Hospital staff and police exhumed the body of the accident victim on Saturday. They collected identification marks and blood samples of the body for DNA test and reburied it.
The body of Srinivas was handed over to his shocked family members, who performed his burial ceremony on Saturday afternoon.
“Normally, bodies are tagged. In big hospitals, they are stamped after proper wrapping. These kinds of mix ups are rare,” Sabbavaram circle inspector Ranganath told this correspondent.
