Two incidents of dead body swaps have happened in last few months. Strangely two mistakes out of correct millions are enough to label hospitals, doctors or health systems as callous. Covid times are toughest times for health care staff and hospitals as well.
Definitely it is sad and painful incident. Without doubt, swapping bodies and causing distress to relatives is really shocking. There will be a demand for exemplary punishment to health care workers involved. There is a little doubt that they will meet the stringent punishment, as this is regarded as unpardonable, given the involvement of health care staff.
But is that the right way? Will chopping the hands, that were trying to rescue, is of help?
No one will like to see, how health workers have been stressed. Under the unprecedented circumstances, how fewer number of frontline workers have been battling the pandemic.
Armchair preachers cannot imagine the stress and the hard work, these warriors are burdened with. There can be multiple ways to look at these unforeseen mistakes.
- Punish the health workers, make an example by taking away their jobs. So everyone will learn.
- Check the faults in the system, make the whole system fool-proof by learning from the mistakes, so it becomes more robust with times to come.
- Counselling of the personnel involved along with improving the system.
- Understand the stress and circumstances of front line workers and improving their working conditions, so as to reduce their burden.
- Check the past record, if someone has done thousands right things, do not hang him for a single error, especially intoday’s unprecedented circumstances.
Most desirable at such crucial times will be encouragement and psychological support to front line workers.
Bodies swapped at private hospital in Delhi,
NEW DELHI: A private hospital in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka committed a grave error by handing over the body of a Christian woman to the family of a Covid-positive Hindu woman. The 69-year-old woman, Garikapati Parisuddam, was not infected with the novel coronavirus and had passed away on Monday morning.
AIIMS sacks one, suspends another for swapping of dead bodies
An ambulance with four corpses – including that of Anjum B – left from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. Three of the persons who had died were Hindu and were taken to a crematorium before the van left for the ITO burial ground.
Just delivering professional death sentence for single, system errors or unforeseen mistakes will have future implications. It is like chopping the hands, that were trying to help.
As Corona has unmasked the real risk to health workers and society has dealt with heath workers shabbily. Next younger generation of aspiring doctors, who is a witness to the cruelty shown towards health staff, may be forced to think about their decisions to become health workers. Possibly the administrators need to ponder now, who will treat people in next pandemic.
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Good one as always. You have become a torchbearer for healthcare community.
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Thanks
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