A top health official confirmed on Monday, A 33-year-old man who died in an isolation ward at a state run-hospital in Bengal’s Murshidabad district after returning from Saudi Arabia via Mumbai tested negative for coronavirus.
The man used to work in a private hospital in Saudi Arabia had arrived in Kolkata on Saturday and went home to Murshidabad, 200 km to the North. On Sunday he started feeling unwell and fell unconscious following which he was rushed to the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, his family said.
Because of his travel history, the hospital kept him in the isolation ward.
“The man didn’t die of coronavirus. The test results were negative. He was diabetic and probably died of high blood sugar levels,” said Ajay Chakraborty, director of health services in West Bengal.
The death of the man sparked panic but in actual he was suffering from mild respiratory problems and was kept in the isolation ward of the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital.
Even though family members claimed that he was suffering from mild respiratory problems, doctors had said that the man probably died of diabetes.
“The patient didn’t show any classic symptoms of the virus which include fever and cough. He had a history of diabetes. But as he had arrived from Saudi Arabia we had kept him under observation in the isolation ward,” Prasanta Biswas, chief medical officer of health in Murshidabad district, had said on Sunday.
District health officials had advised the deceased’s family members to remain under home isolation. Taking no chances, the body was disinfected and handed over to the family members in a coffin, which was also disinfected.
For the unversed, Bengal has not reported any case of coronavirus infection yet.
