Hyderabad: The body of a 21-year-old woman stored in the morgue at Osmania General Hospital was chewed by rats, which seems to be a common state of affairs in the neglected morgue of this major public hospital.
The body of the woman, U Madhu, who had committed suicide by hanging herself at her home in Mangaar Basti in Habeebnagar on Monday night, was taken to the hospital for post-mortem that night by the police who registered a case of suspicious death.
N Birju, a relative of Madhu said, “We shifted the body to the morgue for post-mortem on Monday night. When we went to check on Tuesday, we noticed that the nose and neck parts were missing and it looked like someone had scraped it off her face. Upon asking the duty doctor present, we were told that they have a ‘rats problem’ and that must be the reason.”
He said there were several other bodies in the morgue, but only Madhu’s body had been disfigured.
Police yet to book case against Osmania hospital
“Workers in the morgue informed us that there is a rat infestation in the premise. We approached the Afzalgunj police to register a case against the negligent management, but were told to come on Wednesday to register the case,” added Mr Birju.
Afzalgunj police said nobody has approached them.
“No case has been booked against the hospital management. Nobody has approached us for any complaint,” said Inspector P Gnanendra Reddy.
He said that a letter against the hospital superintendent was given to the police. It has also been marked to the directorate of medical education in Koti, the inspector said.
“Accordingly, we will be sending a letter through ACP G. Chakrawarthy to the management about the law and order problems they may face,” Mr Gnanendra Reddy said.
OGH superintendent Dr Nagendra said, “There is no formal complaint made to the hospital about this case. The relatives have written about it on social media but there is no official complaint either to the forensic department or the hospital.”
Regarding the suicide, the police version is that Madhu was four months pregnant and "paranoid" about losing the child as she had lost her first one. There was no harassment or any such issues from the family, Habeebnagar Inspector P. Madhukar Swamy said.
A case was booked under section 174 (suspicious death) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the body sent to Osmania Hospital morgue on Monday night.
