Odisha asks hospitals to avoid Covid-19 tests after patients' death

The Odisha government has asked both state-run and private hospitals to avoid conduct of coronavirus tests on the bodies of patients dying while undergoing treatment for non-COVID ailments, an official said on Wednesday.

The directive was prompted by incidents of relatives and neighbours abstaining from funerals of people testing positive for the infection after their death, he said.

The Health and Family Welfare Department, in a notification issued on Tuesday, asked the hospitals to avoid undue delay in releasing patients' bodies to prevent harassment of bereaved family members.

The department has also directed all hospitals treating Covid-19 patients to submit the death report along with the copy of bedhead tickets, investigation reports and coronavirus test status to the Director of Health Services, Odisha within 48 hours of the death of a patient for a state-level death audit.

All deaths of Covid-19 patients are audited at the state-level to determine the cause of death, it said.

The hospitals were also asked to record all the pre-existing diseases with signs and symptoms at the time of admission of a patient along with related investigation reports and submit them to the state-level committee along with the name and contact number of the treating physician.

As many as 53 Covid-19 patients have died due to other ailments in the state so far.

Odisha's Covid-19 death toll stands at 736, while 1,53,213 people have recovered from the disease so far and 38,546 patients are undergoing treatment.

"#Odisha has crossed yet another milestone in the deadly fight against #COVID19 with more than 1.5 lakh recoveries. Salute to all the health workers and #CovidWarriors who are working with utmost dedication and making huge sacrifice to save every precious life," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik tweeted.