JAIPUR: An Indian man awoke on a funeral pyre moments before it was to be set on fire after a doctor skipped a postmortem, medical officials said on Saturday.

Rohitash Kumar, 25, who had speaking and hearing difficulties, had fallen sick and was taken to a hospital in Jhunjhunu in the western state of Rajasthan on Thursday.

Indian media reported he had had an epileptic seizure, and a doctor declared him dead on arrival at the hospital. But instead of the required postmortem to ascertain the cause of death, doctors sent him to the mortuary, and then to be burned according to Hindu rites.

D Singh, chief medical officer of the hospital, said that a doctor had “prepared the postmortem report without actually doing the postmortem, and the body was then sent for cremation”. Singh said that “shortly before the pyre was to be lit, Rohitash’s body started movements”, adding that “he was alive and was breathing”.

Kumar was rushed to hospital for a second time, but was confirmed dead on Friday during treatment. Authorities have suspended the services of three doctors and the police have launched an investigation.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024