I am not dead but alive, says Covid patient in video, health dept admits lapse

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Health department in Madhya Pradesh admitted its lapse in declaring a young Covid-19 patient dead in Ujjain, 190 kilometres west of Bhopal, and issued a show cause notice on Saturday to the doctor concerned who committed the grave error, as per statement of a health department official in Ujjain.

The department swung into action and issued the show cause notice to the doctor moments after a video clip posted by the 30-year-old patient admitted to a private medical college in Ujjain went viral on social media. 

The patient is heard saying in the video clip, "I was admitted to RD Gardi Hospital two days back. I read in a newspaper on Saturday that I have been declared dead whereas I am alive and healthy. Nothing has happened to me. Please share this video with others and improve the arrangements here.”

Chief medical and health officer (CMHO), Ujjain Dr Anusuiya Gawali Sinha said, “The name of the patient was entered in the record as dead in place of a 60-year-old Covid-19 patient from Ujjain who died on Thursday. The doctor who happens to be the nodal officer has admitted his lapse saying that it happened due to confusion over names and addresses. I have issued a show cause notice to him and sought his explanation as to why action be not taken against him and his institution by the health department. Also, I have warned him that such an error should not be repeated in future.”  

On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh saw increase of as many as 99 new Covid-19 patients taking the tally of the Covid-19 patients in the state to 1945. Out of these patients, 1085 were registered in Indore alone followed by 388 in Bhopal and 103 in Ujjain.

There has been death of as many as 99 of the 1945 patients with 57 reported dead in Indore, 15 in Ujjain and 9 in Bhopal.

According to Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis, an institute set up by the state government in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh was the fifth among the states in the total number of persons affected as per the data available on Friday evening. The 159 new reported cases on Friday were from six districts. The test positivity rate increased from 5.10% to 5.26% whereas recovery rate had fallen from 12.035 to 11.38%. The case fatality rate increased slightly from 4.92% to 4.98%. 

(With input from Anand Nigam, journalist in Ujjain)