The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to file an affidavit regarding the procedures for disposal of used masks and gloves in view of the pandemic.
Hearing the suo motu public interest litigation petition initiated to ascertain the COVID-19 situation in Madurai district, a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and P. Rajamanickam sought the report on August 27.
It directed the Centre to file an affidavit on the mechanism followed to monitor use of funds provided to State governments to tackle the spread of the pandemic.
J. Sangumani, Dean, Government Rajaji Hospital, and Corporation Commissioner S. Visakan submitted reports on the status of COVID-19 in Madurai district.
The Dean said the GRH was the first and only Government Hospital in the State to release test results on the institute website mdmc.ac.in on a daily basis. It was done without breaching confidentiality of the patient and a hard copy was issued. When the efficacy of the same was tested during the course of the hearing, there was a delay in receiving the information. The court said that the efficiency as claimed by the Dean was not true.
Regarding treatment of bodies, the Dean submitted that the body would be kept in a freezer box and wrapped as per the ICMR guidelines and handed over to family members after getting a written declaration. It is mandatory that the body is sent to a crematorium by ambulance and not to the home of the deceased. A separate committee was constituted by the GRH to supervise and coordinate in this regard. No complaint has been received so far on anybody demanding money for wrapping bodies. If any complaint was received, appropriate action would be taken against those individuals, he said.
Corporation Commissioner submitted that there were two exclusive gasified crematoriums for cremation of victims at Thathaneri and Moolakarai and were functioning round the clock. The Corporation has prescribed payment for cremation of bodies and displayed the contact number of Vigilance Official and Madurai Corporation complaint cell, if anyone wants to make a complaint.
