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The Telangana Health Department has ordered an inquiry into the incident reported at the Mahabubabad Government General Hospital (GGH), where several reports claimed that a man was locked inside the hospital mortuary and walked out the next morning. Hospital authorities have dismissed these reports, stating that survival inside a freezer in mortuary is medically impossible if a person were actually placed inside a freezer. According to hospital superintendent B. Srinivas Rao, the incident occurred on Wednesday, October 30, when a 45-year-old man, identified as Vendi Raju, collapsed near the hospital’s mortuary compound during heavy rain. The hospital and the mortuary are located on opposite sides of the road, he clarified. “Raju, a former truck driver and now a destitute from Jayaram village of Gudur mandal, fell in front of the mortuary gate. Some bystanders noticed him and helped move him to a nearby bench in the open area beside the mortuary. First aid was provided to him there, after which he was shifted to the hospital for further treatment,” Dr. Srinivas Rao said. He denied the rumours circulating online, stating that the man was never placed inside the mortuary. “If anyone is kept inside a mortuary, overnight survival will not be possible in such extreme low temperatures,” he said. Following widespread reports, Telangana Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr. A. Narendra Kumar ordered an inquiry into the matter. A three-member committee has been constituted to investigate the incident, comprising Dr. V. Chandra Sekhar, Superintendent of Government General Hospital, Mulugu; Dr. Gopal Rao, Professor and Head of General Surgery, Government General Hospital, Jangaon; and Dr. Sridhara Chary, Professor and Head of Forensic Science, Government Medical College, Siddipet.
