Odisha to form WhatsApp grp to exchange hospital death updates

With another 'Dana Majhi' like incident having taken place in the state, the Odisha government today decided to form a 'WhatsApp' group to ensure exchange of information on deaths at district-level hospitals.
Information on death, discharge of bodies and postmortem will be exchanged through the 'WhatsApp' group, that will have medical officers of hospitals to district level administrators as members, a health official said.
All the group members would be alerted on each death taking place in hospitals.
A decision to exchange such reports online was taken during a meeting chaired by Health Secretary Dr Pramod Kumar Meherda in the backdrop of another Dana Majhi like incident at Jajpur where two youths were seen carrying their mother's body on their shoulders.

Though the state government has passed certain standard operating procedures (SOP) on transporting bodies from hospitals, but none seems to be following the same, sources said.
The state had faced embarrassment when a Kalahandi tribal Dana Majhi had walked 10 km carrying his wife's body on his shoulder after being denied a hearse by the hospital at Bhawanipatna.

Under the present rule, no dead body can be discharged from hospitals without appropriate certificate, said Meherda.
As per the new provision, the Block Development Officers (BDOs), Tehsildars, all medical officers of district (CDMO), SDMO will be included in the Whatsapp group.

When a person dies in the hospital, the medical officer concerned will inform the matter to the kin of the victim. The information will be shared on Whatsapp. The kins of the deceased persons will be asked whether they would make arrangements for transporting the body or seek help from the hospital, the official said.
Hospital officials will share all such information in the Whatsap group, sources said.