E-Paper
Confusion prevails over cremation of 21-year-old Covid-19 patient in Shimla
Hospital staff, SDM cremate the victim after municipal corporation backs out
Confusion prevailed over the cremation of the 21-year-old Covid-19 patient who succumbed to the disease at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) in Shimla on Tuesday. The patient was the second Covid-19 fatality in the state.
The victim’s body could only be cremated at midnight as the district administration and municipal corporation authorities passed the buck over making necessary arrangements.
Municipal corporation officials refused to cremate the body on ground of it not being part of the protocol. However, they did sanitise the hospital and the route between the hospital and the cremation ground.
Municipal corporation commissioner Pankaj Rai said, “It was not our duty to cremate the body as it is not unclaimed. It was registered at the hospital. The instructions in this regard are clear in the central government’s advisory. The corporation staff sanitised the cremation ground again in the morning.”
Since the victim’s relatives had been quarantined, the body lay unclaimed in the hospital.
Finally, it was the hospital authorities that made arrangements for the disposal of the body.
Senior medical superintendent Dr Janak Raj said, “I had informed the authorities concerned as soon as the patient died. It was the hospital, which had to make arrangements to cremate the body in the end.”
“The hospital staff and I accompanied the body to cremation ground,” Raj said.
The body was kept in the mortuary before it was cremated.
“I cannot afford to risk the lives of my staff, patients, and others visiting the hospital,” Raj said.
The body was transported to crematorium in Kanlog at mid-night. The hospital staff wore PPE kits.
Sub-divisional magistrate (urban) Neeraj Chandla also reached the cremation ground. She and the priest performed the last rites and remained at the cremation ground till midnight.
Notably, the priest who performed the last rites did not wear the PPE kit.
The victim had also been suffering from a kidney ailment. He had travelled from New Delhi to Mandi’s Sarkaghat.
The patient was first taken to Lal Bhadur Shastri Medical College in Mandi district. However, after his condition deteriorated, he was referred to IGMC, Shimla.
He reached the hospital at around 3.30am on Tuesday and passed away around 5.50pm.
The patient had tested positive for the coronavirus disease both at IGMC and Lal Bhadur Shastri Medical College.
