In an appalling incident, a COVID patient who was undergoing treatment in Pariyaram medical college hospital has died by suicide.
The victim has been identified as Kannur native Raveendran (60). He tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. Raveendran was found hanging in a bathroom in the hospital by the nurses after he went missing from the hospital ward.
Media portal TNM spoke to the Kannur District Medical Officer (DMO) who confirmed that the man and his wife had visited the hospital in Pariyaram on Thursday evening, following which his wife tested positive for the virus after an antigen test.
“His wife had diabetes and they had come to the hospital. On doing an antigen test, the result returned positive for both of them. The next morning he was found dead in the hospital restroom,” said Kannur DMO.
His swab samples were collected after being discovered dead and has been sent to the National Institute of Virology in Alappuzha. Kerala conducts different tests for confirming coronavirus.
Apart from RT-PCR, there is the rapid antigen test, the CBNaat, TruNaat tests. In case a patient has tested positive with the rapid antigen test, the result is reconfirmed with an additional test, not necessarily RT-PCR, which is believed to be the gold standard for COVID-19.
For the uninitiated, as per the Kerala government’s rules, suicides of COVID-19 patients are not added to the data on COVID-19 deaths. This is because the cause of death is not the virus.
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