Published Mar 03, 2026 | 2:26 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 03, 2026 | 3:56 PM
Screengrab from the incident
Synopsis: A body, left on the mortuary floor of Jadcherla govt hospital without cold storage, was mauled by dogs. The shocking negligence prompted swift suspension of four staff and an inquiry ordered by Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha. The incident highlights systemic failures in Telangana’s district hospitals, where freezer shortages undermine dignity and safety.
Bheemesh left his home in Nagasala village one morning and never came back. His body surfaced days later, pulled from a pond in Jadcherla mandal. Police drove it to the nearest government hospital for a post-mortem. That is where the story should have paused for paperwork and dignity.
Instead, it took a turn that his family now struggles to speak about.
Staff at the Jadcherla area hospital mortuary received the body. They put it on the floor. Not on a stretcher. Not behind a secured door. On the floor. Dogs entered the mortuary and mauled the corpse.
The mortuary operates without functioning freezer units. The body arrived, staff left it on the floor, and by the time anyone returned, dogs had reached it.
In Indian law and in common practice, a government hospital holds the duty to receive, preserve, and return a body to the family in a condition fit for last rites. That chain of custody broke entirely at Jadcherla.
Eyewitnesses raised the alarm. The incident circulated on social media within hours and reached the office of Telangana’s health minister by Sunday evening.
The response from the top came quickly.
“Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha expressed anger over the incident at Jadcherla Area Hospital. Acting on the minister’s directions, Medical Services Council Commissioner Dr Ajay Kumar visited the hospital on Monday morning and launched an inquiry,” the health minister said in a statement.
“He collected statements from the deceased’s family members, police officials, eyewitnesses, doctors and hospital staff,” the statement read.
“For alleged negligence and their role in the incident, Hospital Superintendent Dr Chandrakala, Duty RMO Dr Harinath, Duty Medical Officer Munisha and mortuary supporting staff member Ravi Prakash were suspended. Commissioner Ajay Kumar stated that strict measures would be taken to ensure such incidents are not repeated,” the minister added.
Four people lost their jobs. The hospital that failed to keep a dead man safe now faces the task of explaining how it will keep the living safe.
Jadcherla is not an isolated case. Across Telangana, district-level government hospitals report shortages of functional cold storage equipment. A mortuary freezer costs less than a month of salaries for the four staff now suspended.
Failure did not begin on the day Bheemesh’s body arrived. It accumulated over budget cycles, maintenance gaps, and oversight lapses that nobody flagged until dogs made it impossible to ignore.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
