Man claims jewellery missing from dead Covid-19 patient, family given wrong body
Editor's note: This story has been updated with the man's lawyer stating that the jewellery items were later returned.
A man filed a police report yesterday after jewellery belonging to his mother who died of Covid-19 went missing at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban.
T Narenthiran, 31, claimed that on Sunday, when he and his sister brought the deceased to the emergency department after the latter had fever and difficulty in breathing, she was wearing a set of jewellery.
They include a gold necklace, a pair of gold earrings, three bracelets, and...
Editor's note: This story has been updated with the man's lawyer stating that the jewellery items were later returned.
A man filed a police report yesterday after jewellery belonging to his mother who died of Covid-19 went missing at Tuanku Jaafar Hospital in Seremban.
T Narenthiran, 31, claimed that on Sunday, when he and his sister brought the deceased to the emergency department after the latter had fever and difficulty in breathing, she was wearing a set of jewellery.
They include a gold necklace, a pair of gold earrings, three bracelets, and one ring.
The woman died on the same day. However, on the following day, when claiming his mother's body, the hospital staff handed over the patient's valuables and property form, there was only the ring stated on the list.
"My mother's jewellery had gone missing and I believe it happened in the emergency room or the mortuary," he said in his report sighted by Malaysiakini.
Narenthiran then asked for permission from the hospital to help open the body bag to trace the missing jewellery only to be met with another surprise.
He claimed that the hospital had mistakenly passed him the wrong remains.
"After getting the permission from one Encik Nahar, who is the Health Ministry officer, to open my mum's body bag, I found that the hospital had given me the body of an unknown Indian man who also died from Covid-19.
"While my mum's body was in a hearse ready to be taken away by other people," he added.
Subsequently, the staff rectified the situation but the missing jewellery was not found in his mum's body bag.
"I suspect that the hospital staff had taken the jewellery and the damage was around RM9,250," he said.
When contacted, Seremban police chief Mohd Said Ibrahim confirmed the report and said the police were investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, lawyer S Selvam, who is helping Narenthiran, said the jewellery items were later returned to the family this afternoon.
However, he told Malaysiakini that his client will not retract his report and wants the police to proceed with their investigation.
Selvam also said the hospital had apologised to Narenthiran over the matter.
Hospital returns jewellery
Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan health director Dr Harlina Abdul Rashid clarified in a statement afterwards that the matter was resolved following this news report.
Following its investigation, the hospital found that the jewellery in question was in the safe custody of the hospital.
"The investigation found that the jewellery did not go missing and had been stored safely by the hospital. The entire set of jewellery was returned to the heirs today on Jan 26, 2021, at 4.30pm," she said.
The hospital also met with the deceased's family today to explain what had happened.
