A 33-year-old woman, who had gone missing from the jumbo Covid facility in Pune earlier this month, was found in Pirangut on Saturday and went back to her family. 

The woman was admitted to the facility on August 29, after she tested positive for the infection. While authorities have claimed that she was discharged on September 5, her family members have said that they found out she was missing only on September 13, when they were asked to come pick her up from the facility. They subsequently approached the police and filed a missing complaint.

It was not immediately clear as to why the woman did not contact her family or go home after her discharge from the facility. Both her family members and police said they would take some time before asking the woman exact details of her discharge and her whereabouts thereafter.

According to her family members, the woman has been suffering from a psychiatric condition and was on medication for it.

On Thursday, family members of the woman and some social outfits had held a protest outside the jumbo facility on CoEP ground, demanding action against authorities of the facility who, they alleged, were responsible for the “disappearance” of the woman. They had alleged that hospital authorities gave them four different answers about the date of her discharge. The family also sought to know why, if the woman was discharged on September 5, they were asked to come pick her up only on September 13.

“The woman was found in Pirangut area on Saturday. She was identified by some people who recognised her because of information circulated about her on social media. She was later brought to the police station and reunited with the family. We will continue to conduct an inquiry into the sequence of events that led to her becoming untraceable. We will be speaking to her after she settles down with her family members,” said Inspector Balasaheb Kopnar of Shivajinagar police station.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the woman’s cousin said, “We are all very happy and relieved that she is back. But there are so many questions about negligence on the part of the Covid facility authorities. When was she exactly discharged, under what condition, why were we not informed at the time, why were we asked to come on September 13 if she had been discharged on September 5, was she given an ambulance, where was she dropped, where was she all this while and in what condition? We will also be speaking to her soon to get more answers and we hope the administration will also conduct an internal probe to ascertain what exactly happened.”

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