Mumbai: Kin of 27-yr-old accuse Sion Hospital of kidney racket after bodies swapped

Mumbai: Two people are suspended after bodies of two people were accidentally swapped at the civic-run Sion Hospital while handing them to the family. Moreover, the family has alleged that a kidney racket is operational at Sion Hospital as the victim had an incision near the side of the body's abdomen.

In two separate cases, a person had died in an accident and in another, a person had committed suicide. Both bodies were brought at Sion Hospital, however, were allegedly swapped in the process and the family of the suicide victim was handed the body of the accident victim.

The incident of body-swapping came to light when the family of the 27-year-old accident victim, Ankush Survade, who was involved in an accident on Eastern Freeway were informed of his death. When they reached to claim the body, they saw that there was an incision near his abdomen, hinting that his kidney was removed, however, it was later revealed that the body was not Survade's.

While the hospital authorities accepted the fault of bodies being accidentally swapped, they refuted the kidney racket allegations. The family then approached police and a discussion was held, wherein two people were likely to be suspended.

In a statement issued by the Lokamanya Tilak Municipal General (LTMG-Sion) Hospital, dean Dr Mohan Joshi stated that Survade was admitted on August 28 with head injury and died on Sunday. His body was sent to the mortuary for postmortem on Sunday morning. Another corpse of Hemant Digambar was brought dead by the relatives on Saturday. The post-mortem examinations of both were done on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, relatives of Survade reported to the mortuary and informed the officials that they will collect the body of the deceased on Sunday evening at about 4 pm, relatives of Digambar arrived at the mortuary and identified the body of Survade as Digamber’s and took the wrong body. Survade’s body was then handed over to Digambar's relatives.

The mistake was realised by the mortuary staff only when the relatives of Survade reached the mortuary to take the body.

Following the order of of assistant municipal commissioner two employees of the mortuary responsible for the the the mistake have been suspended" Joshi said.

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