Ecuadorean woman thought dead found alive in hospital mix-up after 3 weeks

ECUADOR: A 74-year-old Ecuadorean woman who was declared dead from the coronavirus is found alive, in a case of mistaken identity in hospital.

The relatives of Alba Maruri were informed of her death last month and they were sent her ashes.

The doctors in the hospital were shocked when, three weeks after her time in a coma, Maruri awoke on Thursday and asked doctors to call her sister.

The hospital has apologized for the mix-up. The relatives of  Maruri were overjoyed at the news.  Maruti lives in the city of Guayaquil, the epicenter of Ecuador’s Covid-19 outbreak.

Ecuador has been badly affected by the pandemic, with more than 22,000 cases and nearly 600 reported deaths.

De no creer. Alba Maruri, 74 años, paciente de Covid-19 fue dada por muerta el 27 de marzo en hospital del Suburbio y su familia recibió sus cenizas. Resulta que cremaron a otra persona y Alba estuvo inconsciente 3 semanas hasta ayer, que preguntó por su hermana. #Guayaquil pic.twitter.com/vuTvbrGpz8

— LaHistoria (@lahistoriaec) April 25, 2020

The family was told about her death on Mar 27; they were shown the corpse in the hospital morgue and  Maruri’s nephew, Jaime Morla standing at a distance had confirmed it was her.

“I was afraid to see her face,” he told AFP. “I was a meter and a half away. She had the same hair, the same skin tone.”

Coronavirus nightmare in Ecuador’s port city Guayaquil

The body was taken away and cremated, and the ashes were sent to the family.

But then on Thursday, Maruri regained consciousness and told the astonished doctors her name. She provided them with her home phone number and asked for her sister, Aura, to pick her up.

A team from the hospital visited the family home to apologize and said the hospital had been in chaos at the time because of the number of coronavirus cases and deaths.

The family members say they want authorities to compensate them for the mix-up and to reimburse the cost of the cremation.

Maruri has also been bought a new mattress as her family had thrown her old one away.

(With inputs from agencies)