Five doctors including a civil surgeon were suspended from service after ants were seen on the dead body of a man at a Madhya Pradesh District Hospital in Shivpuri.
As per images circulated on social media, ants crawled on the open eyes of 50-year-old Balchandra Lodhi, whose body was left at the Shivpuri district hospital medical ward for hours.
With the grisly image provoking outrage in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Kamal Nath has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Taking to Twitter, Nath tweeted that “such incidents are a shame for humanity and cannot be tolerated”.
“It is highly insensitive that the ants were crawling on the dead patient at a district hospital in Shivpuri. Such incidents are a shame for humanity and cannot be tolerated. I have ordered an inquiry and strict action will be taken against those found guilty,” said the Chief Minister on Twitter.
Lodhi, a Tuberculosis patient, was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning but died shortly.
According to an ANI report, it is alleged that other patients in the ward had informed the doctors but the staff left the body lying in the same place.
The social media images showed the dead man’s wife removing the ants off his face.
Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted on the incident saying “it puts humanity to shame and is heartwrenching”.
“The incident puts humanity to shame and is heartwrenching. I have spoken to the health minister, Tulsi Silawat, and asked that those guilty should be strongly punished so that such cases don’t recur,” the Congress leader tweeted in Hindi.