Mumbai: BMC control rooms to handle bodies

In the backdrop of rising deaths in the city owing to Covid-19, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revised its guidelines to ensure smooth passage for cremation of patients

In the backdrop of rising deaths in the city owing to Covid-19, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revised its guidelines to ensure smooth passage for cremation of patients. As part of caution amid rising cases, every hospital or jumbo centre will have to route disposal of bodies via its 24 ward-level control rooms.

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The BMC provides cremation at 46 traditional facilities, followed by 11 electric crematoriums and 18 gas pyres.

The circular giving out revised guidelines is expected to be out by this week. Currently, as per the protocol, once a death is reported of a Covid-19 patient, the hospital informs the family, after which it arranges for an ambulance to carry out last rites. Ambulance drivers and staff are supposed to be wearing PPE kits, mask and gloves. The body is later wrapped in a bag and taken to the crematorium or place of burial. As of now, five members of the family are allowed to attend the last rites, as per World Health Organisation protocols. However, this will change as hospitals will be required to contact ward war control rooms for the same.

According to revised guidelines that are expected to be out this week, ward control rooms will coordinate with crematoriums about availability of slots. This, the BMC claims, is to ensure there is no queue at the crematoriums, in case the situation worsens in the coming days.

The mortality rate in the city as of now is 2.50%, however, in terms of deaths being reported daily, the numbers have gone up. The city was reporting around five deaths daily, but the same went up to around 15 daily by March-end, and in the second week, over 30 deaths are being reported daily. Last week, the city had also reported a six-month-high for single day of 79 deaths. According to figures, the city reported the first death due to Covid-19 on March 17, 2020. So far, over 12,000 deaths have been reported.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said, “We will issue a circular that will make it mandatory for hospitals to report deaths to ward-level war control rooms. This will ensure there is a smooth process for cremation of dead bodies, and unnecessary waiting can be avoided at crematoriums.”

A BMC official said, “Mumbai has even handled around 150 deaths on a daily basis, and currently the situation is not alarming. We are introducing such a mechanism in anticipation of situation deteriorating in the coming days.”

Meanwhile, according to state health department data, Mumbai had witnessed a peak of deaths due to Covid-19 between June 2020 and October 2020, during which over 8,000 deaths were reported in the city. The number of deaths started falling since November 2020, however, the numbers rose in April 2021. Dr Siddarth Paliwal, a city-based physician, said, “The second wave is being reported in the city owing to different variants of the virus, and if we want to ensure the death rate remains low, we need to continue increasing the number of tests, aggressively undertake contact-tracing and treat them. These are the only steps that can bring down mortality until a substantial number of the population is vaccinated.”