Declared dead at Rajasthan govt hospital, man wakes up on funeral pyre

Authorities in Rajasthan suspended three doctors on Nov 21 for declaring a man dead at the biggest hospital in Jhunjhunu district.

To the utter shock of those who went to cremate him, the speech and hearing-impaired Rohitash woke up on a funeral pyre moments before being cremated.

Rohitash (25) who had been living in a shelter home for the last one month, was brought to Rajkiya Bhagwan Das Khetan (BDK) District Hospital, Jhunjhunu, on Nov 21 after his health suddenly deteriorated. At the hospital, he was declared dead by doctors.

Officials were quoted as saying the body should then have been sent for postmortem but it was released for cremation. During the cremation rituals, when the body was on the pyre, the man woke up.

He was subsequently taken to BDK, and then to SMS Hospital in Jaipur, where he died a day later.

Jhunjhunu Superintendent of Police Sharad Choudhary was quoted as saying, “The doctors were supposed to do a postmortem of the youth, which they did not do. The doctors just fulfilled the paper formalities and sent the man for cremation. When the body was kept on the pyre, he woke up.”

District Collector Ramavtar Meena was quoted as saying a committee was set up to look into the doctors’ conduct and an Additional District Magistrate was appointed to look into the functioning of the hospital.

“Three doctors including Yogesh Jhkhar, Navneet Meel, and Sandeep Prachar are suspended for gross misconduct. They did not perform a postmortem and sent the man for cremation. We have asked for a report from the medical department,” said Meena.