A major lapse in following the coronavirus guidelines for the last rites has happened in Telangana when a relative took the coronavirus patient’s body on Friday from Nizamabad Government Hospital to a graveyard using an auto-rickshaw. The body was buried without any supervision from the hospital.
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1282133188924420096?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwANI reported that the body of the 50-year-olf Covid patient was handed over to relative on Friday for the final rites. There was no arrangement for an ambulance or a handler who has the authority to handle infected bodies at the burial sites.
Dr. Nageshwar Rao, Superintendent Nizamabad Government Hospital, said that a relative of the deceased works at the hospital. He requested the administration to hand over the body to him to which the hospital obliged. The relative did not wait for the ambulance and took the dead body for the last rites with the help of a person from the hospital.
In the image that has now gone viral, neither the relative of the deceased nor the driver of autorickshaw can be seen wearing any protective gear.
Dr. Rao was quoted by ANI, saying, “A 50-year-old patient got admitted to Nizamabad Government Hospital on June 27 and tested positive for COVID-19. He succumbed to the virus due to comorbidity day before yesterday while undergoing treatment.”
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, too, JCB was used to move dead bodies of coronavirus positive patients in at least three instances.
In many states, such a lapse in protocol has happened before. Supreme Court ripped into the Delhi government for mismanagement while handling dead bodies. An 82-year-old Covid patient was found dead in the hospital’s toilet after going missing for eight days.