Kumar Rajiv Nayan
Ara : Confusion prevails in and around Ara, headquarters of Bhojpur district, after the death of person suspected to be a case of Coronavirus (COVID-19) at Ara Sadar Hospital on April 2, 2020, evening, during treatment. A stamp of home quarantine was put on the prescription and also on his hand. The hospital administration took his sample and sent it to Patna for pathological test. The deceased ran an electronic shop and was suffering from cold and fever for the last one week. He was undergoing treatment under a quack and when his condition deteriorated, the family members rushed him to Ara Sadar Hospital.
The deceased, a resident of Ara under Ara Town police station, was admitted to Ara Sadar Hospital in the morning where the doctor after diagnosing him, prescribed some medicine and stamped a seal of home quarantine on his hand and prescription as well. But the condition of the youth deteriorated and so the family members rushed to Ara Sadar Hospital once again in the evening where the doctor seeing home quarantine stamp on the prescription and also on his hand, immediately referred him to Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), Patna, but the youth died during treatment at Ara Sadar Hospital.
Hearing the news of the youth, Ara Sadar SDO Arun Prakash, SDPO Ajay Kumar, Civil Surgeon Laxman Prasad Jha, and the Superintendent, Ara Sadar Hospital, Dr Satish Kumar rushed to the hospital and started investigation into the matter.
Ara Sadar SDO Arun Prakash said that the blood sample of the deceased has been collected and sent to Patna for test. He said that the body of the deceased would be preserved till the report is received. He said that nothing could be said regarding cause of death till pathological test report is received.
Bhojpur DM Roushan Kushwaha formed an inquiry team under Ara Sadar SDO Arun Prakash and the team would visit the house of the deceased and inquire into the matter. Though, SDO Arun Prakash had said that the body of the deceased would be preserved till pathological test report is received, hospital administration gave the body to the family members on April 3, 2020, for the last rites. After the death of the person, the mobile phone of the doctor who had treated him, is switched off. The family members of the deceased are kept under strict supervision and are quarantined.