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Fear and panic over Covid-19 delays last rites of Odisha doctor, retired school headmaster
The 55-year-old homoeopathic doctor of G Udaygiri block in Kandhamal district fell ill on Wednesday night after his blood pressure spiked.
Fear and panic over Covid-19 prevented a dignified burial of a homoeopathic doctor in Kandhamal district of Odisha as villagers did not allow the burial, suspecting him to have died due to Covid-19.
The 55-year-old homoeopathic doctor of G Udaygiri block in Kandhamal district fell ill on Wednesday night after his blood pressure spiked. He was immediately admitted to the Community Health Centre of G Udaygiri. However, he passed away while being taken to the district headquarters hospital in Phulbani town.
“As his body was brought back to his village in Mallikpadi, the locals did not allow it to be buried there fearing that the doctor had succumbed to Covid-19. The doctor’s body was finally buried in an isolated patch of land around two kilometres away,” said Kailash Dandapat, an NGO worker in Kandhamal district.
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The doctor’s burial was opposed by people of another village till the district administration intervened. The body was buried 12 hours after death.
Dandapat said he has never seen such a situation in nearly four decades of his stay in Kandhamal. “Whenever any death happens, there would be a big gathering of near and dear ones and the villagers to pay their last respect to the departed soul. But Corona has turned the situation completely different. I do not think this is the only case of G Udayagiri, this is also going to happen in other parts of the district and the state,” said Dandapat.
In a similar incident, in Covid-19 hotspot of Ganjam district, the villagers did not touch the body of a retired school headmaster and stopped the body from entering suspecting it to be a case of Covid-19 death. A retired school headmaster in Seragada village of Ganjam was suffering from cough and fever for the last fortnight and died on Wednesday.
While the deceased’s two sons could not return to the state due to coronavirus-induced lockdown, villagers refused to help fearing infection of Covid-19.
As no one came forward, four local journalists went to the deceased headmaster’s home wearing PPE kits and brought his body in an ambulance to the cremation ground. Journalists Meghnad Das, Shankar Pradhan, Balaji Pradhan and Ajit Panda lent helping hands as they carried the body for cremation.
