Delay in coronavirus victim’s last rites after confusion over procedure

For more than 14 hours after a 68-year-old woman from Janakpuri succumbed to coronavirus (Covid-19) infection, her body was kept at the lawns of the Ram Manohar

For more than 14 hours after a 68-year-old woman from Janakpuri succumbed to coronavirus (Covid-19) infection, her body was kept at the lawns of the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and then in the premises of the Nigambodh Ghat before it could finally be cremated.

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The woman’s family alleged that while hospital authorities had advised “immediate cremation” of the body, after she died on Friday night, the body was only cremated at 12.30pm on Saturday. All this, because hospital authorities, municipal agencies and staff at the crematorium were not prepared to handle a coronavirus-infected body.

A senior official in the Delhi government said no standard operating procedure (SOP) has been issued by the Central government to states on how to handle a Covid-19 infected dead body. “The director general of health services (DGHS) has asked us to handle an infected dead body the same way we treat a living Covid-19 infected being,” said the official on the condition of anonymity.

“She died at night, and hospital authorities told us they will not keep the body there. Around 1am, her body was shifted from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to the ambulance. We were particularly asked by the doctors to either avail electric or CNG cremation facilities as the virus will remain active in the body even after death,” a relative of the woman said.

The relative said that from 1am, the ambulance carrying the body of the woman was parked in the lawns of the hospital, and it was quarantined using a rope tied around the vehicle to prevent any personal contact from patients and family members visiting the hospital. The ambulance was guarded by two guards wearing protective suits.

Around 10.30am, nearly 25 family members of the victim reached Nigambodh Ghat to cremate the body, which was accompanied by two hospital staff. However, they were stopped by crematorium staff.

“They told us that they will not conduct the cremation because it was a government facility and they did not have any order from the government on whether the body of an infected person can be cremated, or how to go about the procedure,” the relative said.

He added, “We were asked to take the body to the Lodi Road facility, but even they refused to take the body. For over two-and-a-half hours, we stood at Nigambodh Ghat waiting with a body that was supposed have been cremated as soon as possible and with maximum care. This was not a regular case, everyone is afraid of catching the infection.”

The woman’s body was finally cremated after a team from RML Hospital and the health department of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation arrived and took over the procedure. The body was handled by a team wearing personal protective equipment, which includes face shields, gloves, goggles and glasses, gowns, head covers, masks, respirators, and shoe covers.

Ashok Rawat, health officer at the north corporation, said the officials were also taken aback when the body was brought into the crematorium on Saturday.

“Neither hospital authorities nor the family members informed us that the dead body was being brought to Nigambodh Ghat. On Monday, we will send a request letter to the RML hospital asking them to inform us in advance if the body of a coronavirus-infected person is being brought to our facilities,” Rawat said.

The 68-year-old was the first to die of coronavirus infection in Delhi, and the second in India. On Thursday, a 76-year-old man from Kalburgi in Karnataka had died of the infection.

The woman’s 46-year-old son had tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. He had travelled to Japan, Geneva and Italy, before boarding a flight from Italy to India on February 23.

While government authorities seemed clueless about the protocol to handle dead bodies, health experts also stood divided over the possibility of the virus spreading after the death of infected people.

Director, All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Randeep Guleria said there is no risk in cremating the infected bodies.

“Coronavirus cannot spread through dead bodies. It spreads from respiratory secretion. Coughing is necessary for the spread of this virus,” he said.

Dr Hagai Levine, professor of epidemiology with expertise in outbreak investigation, at the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health in Jerusalem, also agreed that the risk of transmission is next to nil after death.

“The risk for droplet transmission from a dead body is extremely low,” Levine said.

The chief medical officer of Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Dr Anurag Bhargava, however, said that quarantine procedure should be followed even while performing last rites.

“The person might have died, but their body remains contaminated as the virus does not die with the body. People who are handling the dead body of a coronairus victim for last rites are extremely vulnerable,” he said.

(with inputs from Sanjeev K Jha)