Coronavirus outbreak: Victims’ families refuse to collect ashes after last rites

Families and relatives of coronavirus patients, who have died, have not been returning to crematoriums after the final rites to collect the ashes of their loved

Families and relatives of coronavirus patients, who have died, have not been returning to crematoriums after the final rites to collect the ashes of their loved ones.

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At the city’s three major crematoriums — Vaikunt Dham Hindu Electric Crematorium at Reay Road; Municipal Electric Crematorium at Chandanwadi; and Electric Crematorium at Worli — the ashes of 10 victims have not been collected by their families 10 days after the final rites had been performed.

The staffers at the crematoriums told Hindustan Times that the victims’ families fear virus transmission through the ashes and so have not returned to collect them.

“As per protocol, we call the families to collect the ashes, but most of them refuse and ask us to immerse them in a water body because they are afraid of contracting the disease,” a staffer at the Chandanwadi crematorium said.

Some families have also been apprehensive about paying their final respects.

Prakash Salave, one of the staffers at the Reay Road crematorium, said, “The families and relatives of the victims are in so much fear that several of them even abstain from paying their final respects to the patient. I am witnessing such a scenario for the first time in 25 years since I’ve worked here.”

The civic body said it has issued guidelines to its health department to be followed during the cremation of patients who have died due to coronavirus. As per the guidelines, health staffers have to wrap the bodies in a plastic bag. The health department also has to ensure that the crematorium staffers follow all the guidelines to prevent transmission among them or those present for the final rites. “Through your newspaper, I want to appeal to the citizens that there is no possibility of the infection transmitting after the cremation of the body. It is safe to collect the ashes as it does not carry any infection,” said a civic official, on condition of anonymity.