Bodies swapped at Kochi hospital

A private hospital in Kochi had a very embarrassing new year when staff at the attached morgue swapped two bodies.

Daughters and sons-in-law of R Purushot-haman, an 84-year-old retired registrar who died on Wednesday, were shocked to see another man’s body at the morgue on Friday.

It turned out that Purushothaman’s body had already been handed over to the family of a late army officer in Thiruvananthapuram a day ago. Purusho-thaman’s relatives, including Kerala high court justice PS Gopinathan, could only claim the ashes from a crematorium.

The hospital authorities defended themselves saying that the late armyman’s relatives had identified the body before claiming it. The police have registered a suo motu case into the mix-up.