Parents hang selves in Ganjam after losing only son to Covid

Berhampur/Kendrapada: The parents of a 27-year-old man from Ganjam district were found dead hours after their son died of Covid-19 in a Bhubaneswar-based private hospital on Friday morning.
Police said Rajkishore Satpathy (56) and his wife Sulochana (50) of Narayanpursasan village under Kabisurya Nagar police limits in the district allegedly committed suicide in the evening of the same day as they were unable to bear the pain of losing their only son.
“We have registered an unnatural death case in this regard. Police are investigating the exact cause of their deaths,” Pravat Sahoo, IIC of Kabisurya Nagara police station, said. With the help of local volunteers and relatives, police recovered the bodies and sent them for autopsy on Saturday.
The couple’s son — who was a school teacher — was on the front line in the fight against coronavirus. His school had been transformed into an institutional quarantine centre.
The man was first admitted to a hospital in Aska after he developed a fever. He was later referred to MKCG Medical College and Hospital. However, he was shifted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar after his condition deteriorated. He was unmarried.
Sources said the father committed suicide by hanging from a tree on the village’s outskirts, while the mother hung herself at home.
In another incident, a 32-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide in the district headquarters hospital (DHH) of Jagatsinghpur district on Thursday night after her husband (38) died in the same isolation ward as her.
The deceased has been identified as Subhadra Swain, while the husband as Nirlapta Bhoi. Before her death, Subhadra posted an audio clip on a social media channel alleging that her husband died due to gross negligence on part of the hospital’s doctors and that she was left with no choice but to die. In the clip, she said the doctors were reluctant to treat her husband as they suspected he was a Covid-19 positive patient.
Sunil Nayak, brother-in-law of Nirlapta, on Saturday filed an FIR against Bijaya Panda, chief district medical officer of Jagatsinghpur, and several other doctors. “Police are investigating the case,” Rajanikanta Mishra, IIC of Jagatsinghpur police station, said.
When contacted, Bijaya said, “He was under treatment. However, he died of a heart attack. Both were in the isolation centre of the hospital. The swab samples of the couple were sent to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and the results came out negative.”
Nirlapta and his wife had returned from Hyderabad on Wednesday and were placed under quarantine at a temporary medical centre in the district. After Nirlapta developed fever, both were shifted to the DHH’s isolation ward.