On May 29, Delhi reported more than 1,000 coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day taking the total number of cases close to 17,400. In the backdrop of this, a video of a group of people complaining about dead bodies kept on hospital beds while patients lying on the floor not attended by doctors is circulating on social media. “This scene opens your eyes to the truth. Otherwise in Delhi, advertisements speak”, tweeted one Avinash Tripathi. The tweet has garnered close to 1,000 retweets.

Twitter user Sangeet Kumar posted the video with the message, “ये दिल्ली के हालात है लाशें इतनी ज्यादा है कि पांच पांच दिन संस्कार नहीं हो पा रहा । अकेले लोकनायक हॉस्पिटल मे 106 बॉडी पड़ी है । 80 मोर्चरी रेक मे और 26 जमीन पर। (This is the condition of Delhi where due to the large number of dead bodies, some have not been cremated from the last five days. There are 106 dead bodies in Lok Nayak hospital itself. 80 in mortuary and 26 on the ground)”. The tweet was retweeted by Congress leader Alka Lamba.

Many other people on Facebook and Twitter shared the video with the claim that it showed the poor condition of a hospital in Delhi.

We have also received several requests on our official android application and WhatsApp number (+917600011160) to fact-check this video.

Video from Mumbai

Alt News found that the video is not from a hospital in Delhi but from King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. In the video itself, one can hear a person saying that it’s KEM hospital. The video was shot on May 26, 2020. BJP leader Ram Kadam tweeted it on May 27 and claimed that dead bodies of patients who died due to coronavirus are kept in the same ward as the patients.

Maharastra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant quote-tweeted Kadam and posted screenshots of a clarification issued by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). According to the clarification, the video was shot during a sudden strike of KEM employees. It justified the lack of medical staff and unhygienic conditions inside hospital wards due to the strike. It also stated that normalcy returned after the strike was called off. The government clarified that these videos do not represent the current condition at KEM hospital.

“Claiming they were working in harsh conditions, Class III and IV employees of the KEM hospital in Mumbai staged a protest Tuesday after a fellow colleague died, and his body remained in the mortuary for two days.” reported The Indian Express on May 26, 2020.

In conclusion, a video showing the poor condition of KEM hospital ward during a strike by staff members was shared with the false claim that it is from Delhi.

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About the Author

Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.