Activists and members of NGOs who are taking the bodies of people dying of COVID to crematoriums have flagged an issue which could blow up in the coming days if the Telangana government do not design a system to address it.
As crematoriums do not take bodies after 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., family members of the deceased are left clueless when a few private hospitals ask them to take the body late in the evening or night.
According to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), crematoriums work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and some from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A few small private hospitals, most of which do not have the facility to preserve bodies, are asking family members to take the bodies at the earliest.
If a patient dies late in the evening, family members or friends have to find some place to keep the body as they cannot take their dead dear one home. Neighbours too, might raise objections if the body is kept at home.
The NGO workers and activists said that a place has to be designated either at crematoriums, government mortuaries, or other places to preserve the bodies throughout the night.
“Since there is no such place currently, a few families facing this kind of a situation are switching off their phones so that private hospitals cannot reach them at odd hours. Some are delaying bill payment, or keeping the body somewhere without informing anyone. If the issue is not addressed soon, authorities might see family members grieving next to bodies by the roadside,” alerted a member of an NGO on condition of anonymity.
Though only a few such tragic incidents have come to the notice of these activists so far, steps can be taken to avoid more such situations.
“We tried to call Gandhi Hospital mortuary to inquire if the body can be preserved there. But there was no response. Having a point of contact to keep the bodies at government mortuaries too, can work as a solution,” said Sai Teja Katragadda, member of NGO Feed The Needy.
Space constraint
Private hospitals pointed out that they have space constraint to keep the bodies beyond a certain period.
Ironically, even the big corporate hospitals have very small facilities to keep the bodies in their mortuaries. At the most, a maximum of five to six bodies can be accommodated. The freezer boxes can keep three bodies and the rest are kept inside the mortuary for two to three hours till the formalities are completed.
According to a representative of a private hospital, their chain of hospitals have facility to keep six bodies in each of their branches. “Once a COVID-19 patient dies, immediately the family members are alerted and asked to get a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the nearest police station under whose jurisdiction the hospital comes. The hospital simultaneously informs the local police station also,” the representative said.
The hospitals maintain that as per COVID protocols, they are sending bodies even in the night. “We are also helpless as the mortal remains have to be shifted immediately,” sources said.
A senior doctor running a hospital in Secunderabad admitted that very few hospitals above 100 beds would have mortuary facilities. “In the event of COVID death in private hospitals, it takes a couple of hours to complete the formalities as the relatives have to be informed. Till they come, the body depending on the condition is embalmed and kept in a corner and in some cases, freezer boxes are arranged till the family takes possession. Even small, medium and big hospitals are ill-equipped to handle bodies,” he remarked.
