After rumours about 'deceased' boy getting 'life' at graveyard, doctors say he was discharged alive

Amid rumours that a one-and-a-half-year-old boy who was allegedly declared dead by the doctors 'started moving his hands and legs' after water was put into his mouth during the 'last rites' at the graveyard at Basapur village in Navalgund taluk, doctors of the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Hubballi clarified that the boy was not declared dead, while his attendants got him discharged against medical advice.

Ailing Akash Basavaraj Pujar of Basapur village was first admitted at the German Hospital in Gadag and later was shifted to SDM Hospital in Dharwad and then to KIMS in Hubballi.

"Doctors said the boy's heartbeats were very less and he was on oxygen support. Later, they said the boy passed away on Thursday evening. While performing the last rites of the 'deceased', water was put into the boy's mouth as per the tradition, and he started moving legs and hands," according to some villagers.

Meanwhile, KIMS Director Ramalingappa Antaratani clarified that the attendants of the boy got him discharged when he was alive, refusing to continue the treatment for infection and fluid in his brain.

"They might have brought the boy back to hospital after their relatives asked to try once again as he was alive," Dr Antaratani added.

"We had not declared the boy dead, and no such letter was issued," he noted.