Uttar Pradesh / Woman’s dead body left in hospital mortuary for 4 days, eaten by rats and ants

Lucknow: In a shocking case of negligence, unclaimed body of a woman was partially eaten by rats and ants in the mortuary of Balrampur Mandalya Hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh, a report stated on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old unidentified woman was found injured on the roadside in Bilariaganj on April 29 evening. She was rushed to Balrampur Mandalya Hospital, where she succumbed the next morning (April 30). Following this, her body was shifted to the hospital’s mortuary. The hospital then alerted the police about her death as to start post-mortem examination and other formalities. However, due to the negligence on the part of the health department and police, neither the identity of the deceased was ascertained nor the post-mortem examination was carried out. The body was left in the hospital’s mortuary for four days.

Foul smell 

The incident came to the fore on Tuesday when foul smell began emanating from the body due to decomposition. It was also found that ants and rats had eaten a major portion of the body, according to a report by Hindi daily Jagran. CMO Dr AK Mishra said: “I am not aware of the incident. If the police were informed about the patient’s death, then it was their duty to conduct the necessary procedure of disposal.”

In a similar incident, the dead body of an ex-Army man’s wife was allegedly partially eaten by rats in the mortuary of a private hospital in Punjab’s Derabassi near Chandigarh.

The family of the deceased staged a protest outside the hospital, demanding action against the hospital staff over alleged negligence. Later, police arrived at the scene and pacified them. 

In yet another incident, rats ate a woman cancer patient’s toe after she was left unattended for four days at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra in May last year.