A Covid-19 patient, aged 75, died at her Keshtopur residence on Thursday evening allegedly without getting bed in a hospital in the city for immediate treatment.

Her body was lying for about 19 hours since she died. The body started decomposing, which indicated how the prevention and control of the pandemic is virtually getting out of control in the state. The body was disposed of later in the afternoon.

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On Thursday, the state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha had told reporters at Nabanna that 70 per cent of the deceased Covid patients could not reach hospitals soon after they showed symptoms of coronavirus.And the delay in reaching hospitals was causing their deaths, he said.

But recurrence of Covid patients dying at their respective homes because of either non-availability of beds in hospitals or ambulance across the state contradicted the chief secretary’s claim.

Today, family members of the deceased alleged that she was taken to a doctor nearby, soon after she complained of fever, cough and cold with respiratory trouble about six days ago. The doctor had advised her to take Covid confirmatory test.

On Wednesday evening, the test report revealed that she had contracted coronavirus infection, and since then they were desperately trying to get her admitted to a government or private hospital.

But she was denied admission in hospitals because of scarcity of beds, family members alleged.Her condition deteriorated from Thursday morning and she died later in the evening.

“Then we started the process of getting her death certificate first and then cremation by making frantic calls to the health department,

Baguihati police station and Bidhannagar municipality seeking their interventions for the disposal of the body. But none of these agencies took prompt action to take away the body for her cremation as per Covid protocols. The body was lying at home from Thursday evening,” one of the family members alleged.

On 30 July, similar incident had happened in the Beniapukur area when a 71-year-old Covid patient, who was disposed off after lying unattended for about 18 hours.The incident happened at Christopher Road in the Beniapukur area after the woman died around 5 pm at her residence.

On 27 July, the body of a 62- year-old coronavirus patient was found lying for more than 15 hours since Sunday midnight at his residence in the Sahapur area of Behala. With the intervention of the state education minister Partha Chatterjee, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) along with police sent the body for cremation.

On 26 July, a 68-year-old COVID suspect had died in front of the state-run Bongaon Sub-divisional Hospital in North 24 Parganas after no one came forward to help him board an ambulance to carry him to a hospital in Kolkata.

In another case the same day, the body of a 70-year-old COVID patient was also found lying for six hours at his home at Brindaban Pal Lane in the Shyampukur area. Neither his relatives nor neighbours helped cremate the body. Finally, police made all arrangements for his cremation.

In last week of June, a 70- year-old Covid-19 patient’s body was also found in a freezer at his home in the Amherst Street area for about 48 hours.