Chaos was witnessed at Mission hospital in Jorhat on Friday following an incident of pilfering of jewellery from a dead patient by a security guard of the hospital.
An official of the hospital said the woman who had been admitted into the ICU of the hospital on Thursday night died the same night and was taken back home by the family.
They discovered that her earrings were missing when the body was being prepared for cremation on Friday.
A number of people from the village at Bagchung accompanied the family and accused the hospital staff of stealing the earrings.
The official said that when the CCTV footage was checked it was seen that the security guard posted at the ICU had removed the earrings.
The guard identified as David Bharadwaj, who had also left after duty hours was summoned and handed over to the police.
“Although he denied it initially he later admitted to the crime and his wife brought the earrings from his house and handed the pair to the police,” the official said.
The official said that Mission Hospital outsourced security guards from a private company, Trishul Security Service, and complaint has been lodged with the company as well.
“This will give a bad name to our hospital. The committee will take a decision as to whether we will continue with the same vendor or not in the next meeting,” he said.
The Mission Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in Jorhat and established during the British era.
Recently NRL installed an oxygen plant in the hospital under its CSR programme.