A body of a woman was lying in the cold storage of an ambulance outside a private hospital for over 48 hours, after she succumbed to coronavirus on Thursday in Pune’s Shikrapur village, as her test results were awaited.

According to the Times Of India report, after the deceased’s report arrived on Saturday, the former sarpanch of the village performed her last rites. The woman is survived by a 17-year-old son.

Speaking to the media, the doctor at the hospital, where the 40-year-old was being treated informed the reports were delayed because her relatives were not carrying her Aadhaar card required for COVID-19 test.

The reason why her body was kept in the ambulance is that the relatives wanted to perform her last rites at their native village in Osmanabad district, he added.

However, the son rubbished the claims and alleged that the hospital authorities had not informed him about the required documents for the test.

‘On July 31, the doctors asked for my mother’s Aadhaar card. I somehow managed to get a copy of it on my cell phone and forwarded it to the hospital authorities. On Saturday afternoon the report came, and my mother tested Covid-19 positive,’ the son as quoted.

The woman was suffering from the virus symptoms for a long time, following which the son had taken her to a private hospital at Ranjangaon village, 50 kms away from the city. As her condition worsened, the deceased was then admitted at Shikrapur.

The boy said that though his mother died within half an hour of their arrival, he was handed over a bill of 16,000/-, that included just paying for keeping the body in cold storage and the PPE kit used by the authorities.

Struggling with the financial crisis, the boy approached the local police station and narrated the incident, after which the village sarpanch, Saswade was contacted, who performed the rites with the help of gram panchayat.

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