Are Indian hospitals killing patients to show a surge in COVID-19 deaths?
A video has gone viral on social media that allegedly shows a man suffocating a patient in what is assumed to be a hospital ward. Screenshots of the video are as follows and the entire video can be viewed here.
The video is being speculated that it shows hospitals killing their patients that have been tested COVID-19 positive to control the Coronavirus figures in the country.
The video was shared on a profile under the username Drshiv Poojan Mathur and has since then been viewed 1.3k times. The caption in Hindi reads:
“बेहद ख़ौफ़नाक वीडियो सामने आई किस तरह लोगो को मारा गया जिससे कोरोना मरीज़ के आंकड़े बड़े ताकि हॉस्पिटल को भी पैसा मिले। ज़्यादा से ज़्यादा लोगो तक पहुचाये ताकि इनपे सख्त कार्यवाही हो|”
The above caption, when translated, reads: ”
“Extremely frightening video was revealed, how the people were killed, so that the Corona patient figures so that the hospital also gets money. Reach as many people as possible so that strict action can be taken.”
Another Facebook user shared the same video with captions, “Don’t know where this video belongs to? But there is a big conspiracy in the guise of Corona!”. The post has been shared 19,000 times.
Truth
A Google Reverse Image search of keyframes led us to an an article posted on a website sokalersongbad.com which is a Bangladesh based website. It described an incident that happened where an elderly man by the name of Mansur Mollah was choked to death after a fight broke out between two parties. It happened in Faridpur’s Dadpur in Boalmari, Bangladesh. The article written in Bengali can be viewed here and a screenshot is follows:
This article was also tweeted in the following tweet on May 19th.
প্রতিপক্ষকে মামলার জালে ফাঁসাতে ৮০ বছরের বৃদ্ধ মনসুর মোল্লাকে হাসপাতালের বেডে শ্বাসরোধ করে হত্যার অভিযোগ পাওয়া গেছে। https://t.co/VxfWJnZZvK
— sokalersongbad.com (@sokalersongbad) May 19, 2020
However, the article does not match the contents of the video and the incident, when initially reported did not reference to the video either. An article published on dhakatimes.com reads the following:
“An old man named Mansur Mollah was killed in a clash between two groups at Boalmari in Faridpur.
The incident took place in Dadpur area of the upazila around 8:30 pm on Tuesday. 7/8 people on both sides were injured.
Boalmari Police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Aminur Rahman said Abu Bakkar, son of Fazal Khar of Dadpur village, had an argument with Kibria Mollah, son of Soleiman Mollah, on Tuesday evening. Due to this, the people of Fazal Khar attacked the people of Chhelaman Mollah at night. At that time, his neighbor Mansur Mollah got hit in the head when he tried to stop him. He was rescued and taken to Faridpur General Hospital. He died at around 1 am while undergoing treatment there. The body was sent to Faridpur Medical College for autopsy, he said.”
The original article can be found here.
Another article published by The Daily Prothom Alo states that the fight broke out over a game of cricket and the old man identified as Mansur Mollah, 60 was injured in the fight and succumbed to his wounds on April 22.
The entire article can be read here.
A deeper Facebook search with keywords, “‘ভিডিও মনসুর মোল্লা’ ( Video Mansur Mollah) revealed a Facebook post by Hasan Molla. A screenshot of the same is as follows:
The post reads :
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