COVID-19 patient tries to escape, jumps out of Sion hospital window

The patient was caught and brought back by the security after a few minutes

Days after a video showing patients lying next to dead bodies in a Sion hospital ward went viral, another video showing a COVID-19 patient escaping the hospital through the window surfaced on social media.

In the latest video, a middle-aged man is seen running out of ward no. 5 on the ground floor of the hospital and jumping out of the window. A few minutes later, the man is brought back by the hospital staff. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya shared the video on social media on Friday and sent a written complaint to the civic body demanding action. "The incident took place on May 3 in front of ward no. 5 which is meant for COVID-19 patients. It is the same ward where another video had shown bodies lying on beds," Somaiya said.

Dr Pramod Ingle, acting dean of the hospital, said that the video is authentic but is being shown in a negative light. "Patients of COVID-19 are often under a lot of stress and suffer from psychosis. People react differently to stressful situations. Fortunately, the patient was brought back by a guard wearing a PPE kit," said Dr Ingle. He added that the guard had been congratulated for his good work and the video was from the security footage of the hospital.

Bodies to go to mortuary

The Sion hospital committee probing the video showing bodies kept at Sion hospital's COVID-19 ward has been given a day's extension by Dr Ingle.

The patient seen walking towards the window

Meanwhile, IAS officer Prajakta Lavangare has been appointed to take charge of Sion and Cooper Hospital. She visited the hospitals on Friday. Dr Ingle said that while the enquiry report is still awaited, a new protocol has been decided to handle bodies of COVID-19 patients.

"The bodies will now be packed in plastic sheets on the bed and then shifted to the mortuary. We have two mortuaries and among them, the bigger one has a capacity to keep around 40 bodies. Families can collect bodies from there," he said adding that currently, there are 11 COVID-19 bodies at the hospital.

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