Lanka terror: Grief-stricken kin waiting to bring remains home
Bengaluru, Apr 23: Yet to come to grips with the loss of their dear ones, shattered kith and kin of those killed in the devastating serial blasts in Sri Lanka are now faced with the problem of bringing the dismembered bodies home which, according to a relative, have started decomposing.
Family members are anxiously waiting for the bodies to take them back to India and perform the last rites, said a relative of a JDS worker killed in the blast that ripped through Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo on Easter Sunday.
S Shivakumar, who is in Sri Lanka, told PTI over phone Tuesday that the autopsy on his relative H Shivakumar's body has been completed but the problem was to fly it to India.
"The body is dismembered. There is no storage facility here. It is decaying fast. We have to bring it to Bengaluru.
There are eight bodies here:
They (Sri Lankan authorities) told us that three bodies could be flown today and rest will be flown tomorrow," a distraught Shivakumar said.
As many as 321 people were killed in a chain of blasts that ripped through churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on April 21.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the terror strike, the deadliest to shake the island nation since the end of the country's civil war in 2009 after the defeat of the LTTE.
From India, Karnataka bore the brunt of the mayhem as 10 deceased are from the state, including eight JDS workers.
The victims are: Ramesh, K M Lakshminarayan, M Rangappa, K G Hanumantharayappa, H Shivakumar, Narayan Chandrashekar, A Mare Gowda, H Puttaraju, Shettypalya R Nagaraj and Razeena Khader Kukkady, according to information from the state government.
Barring Nagaraj and Kukkady, the others were JD(S) workers.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy gave the name of the JD(S) workers in a tweet.
The Karnataka government too has intensified efforts to bring the bodies back home.
A senior IAS officer told PTI that the body of Shettypalya Nagaraj will be flown to India tonight.
"As per our information, which we have received from the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka, they are coordinating everything.
One body will be coming today that of Shettypalya Nagaraj at 8.20 pm by Sri Lankan Airlines," principal secretary in the department of personnel and administrative reforms, Parvez Anjum, said.
Anjum has been appointed by the State government as the nodal officer to coordinate with the Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka to bring the bodies to Bengaluru.
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4 children test HIV positive in MP govt hospital; contaminated blood transfusion suspected
Satna/Bhopal (PTI): Four children suffering from thalassemia have tested HIV positive at Satna District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh allegedly due to contaminated blood transfusions, officials said on Tuesday.
The case is four months old and an investigation is underway into it, an official said.
Officials suspect the use of contaminated needles or blood transfusions for the spread of infection to the children.
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MP Health Minister Rajendra Shukla told reporters in Bhopal that he has ordered a probe into the matter and sought a report.
“It is also being investigated whether the blood transfusion took place in other hospitals also or only in the government hospital,” he said.
The affected children, aged between 12 and 15 years, received blood transfusions from the hospital's blood bank, as per an official.
Devendra Patel, in-charge of the blood bank at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel District Hospital in Satna, said four children have tested HIV positive and an investigation is underway to determine how they got infected.
"Either an infected needle was used or a blood transfusion occurred. These are the two main reasons I believe. Blood transfusion seems to be the most likely cause," he told PTI Videos.
All these children suffer from thalassemia, and some have received 80 or 100 blood transfusions, he said.
A family member of one of the affected children said that their child was found to be HIV positive during a routine checkup about four months back, and he has been receiving medication, but it had proven to be of no use.
After taking the medication for HIV, the child starts vomiting, feels low and becomes ill, he said.
After the four children were detected with HIV infection, their family members were also tested and the results came out negative, he added.
The Opposition Congress targeted the government over the matter and demanded the resignation of Health Minister Shukla.
Speaking to reporters in Bhopal, Congress MLA and former minister Sachin Yadav claimed such incidents were continuously occurring in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, a case of toxic cough syrup came to light in Chhindwara, followed by incidents of rat bites at hospitals in Indore and Satna, and now children have been given HIV-infected blood, he said.
"The health minister is unable to manage the department. He should resign. A murder case should be filed against those responsible for the Satna incident," Yadav said.
Senior Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma termed it a failure of the government. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav's government has no connection with ground realities, he charged.
"Somewhere rats are roaming in hospitals, somewhere children are being given HIV-infected blood. Instead of preventing HIV, you are spreading it. Mohan Yadav should wake up from his slumber. Children are the nation's heritage and should be taken care of," he added.
