An Indian man returned home after his wife's funeral and memorial service, only to be surprised to find her alive in their marital home, in a strange incident. The details of this unusual event trace back to the time when 75-year-old Motiala Jerigama was admitted to the government hospital in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, South India, after being confirmed positive for the novel coronavirus.
Motiala's husband, Jadaya, visited her daily to check on her condition. However, when he arrived at the hospital on May 15, he found her missing from her bed. Hospital staff informed him that she had been moved to another ward. Despite his thorough search throughout the hospital, Jadaya was unable to locate her.
After failing to find his wife, Jadaya asked the nurses and doctors for any updates on her, and the medical officials informed him that his wife had passed away. They handed him her body from the morgue inside a body bag and also issued a death certificate. The doctors advised the grieving husband not to touch or open the bag without wearing personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. Following this guidance, Jadaya took his beloved wife's body back to their village to conduct the final death rites that very day.
A few days later, the grieving man received more bad news about the death of his son Ramesh on May 23, who also succumbed to the coronavirus, prompting him to organize a joint memorial service for his wife and son.
Despite the memorial for his wife and son, Jerigama was recovering in the hospital, wondering why no one had come to see her and was particularly upset that her husband had not come to take her home.
Leaving her family in shock, Jerigama managed to return home using 3000 Indian rupees (approximately £29), which the Indian state government provided to each survivor of COVID-19, a week after her funeral.
Jadaya and his family were horrified to learn that the hospital had given them the body of a stranger, which they buried believing it to be Jerigama. To date, the identity of the person in the body bag given to Jadaya remains unknown, and the hospital has not commented on the matter. No case of negligence has been reported to Indian authorities according to Youm7.
