A doctor in Telangana went ahead Sunday to drive a tractor carrying the body of a Covid-19 victim to the cremation site for the latest rites at a time when there have been cases of body abuse.
Dr. Pendyala Sriram, who works as a district medical surveillance officer in the Pedapalli district, was on duty Sunday when the Covid-19 patient died. As there was no ambulance available in the hospital and the driver of the tractor provided by the municipal authorities refused to drive, the 45-year-old doctor decided to drive the vehicle to the cremation site.
The incident came to light after a video showing Dr. Sriram driving the tractor with the victim’s body was widely shared on social media.
According to Sriram, the patient died around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. It was the first death at the Peddapalli government hospital, although the district has reported eight deaths so far.
Look: the doctor drives the tractor to take the body of the Covid victim to the cemetery
Since it was the first case in the district, hospital staff also did not know how to handle the body of a Covid-19 victim, including its packaging according to protocol. In fact, there was a lone female doctor and some nurses in the hospital. Unfortunately, the hospital does not have a morgue to preserve the body at a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius for a long time and there was not even an ambulance to transport a body, let alone a victim of Covid-19, “said the doctor.
Upon receiving a call from the hospital, Sriram arrived at the scene and understood the situation. “The hospital authorities were in a hurry to dispose of the body and the relatives were anxious. I immediately spoke to my superiors, the police and the local municipal authorities to make arrangements for the removal of the body, ”he said.
Since there was no ambulance, the municipal authorities sent a tractor to transport the body. Meanwhile, Sriram packed the body according to the Covid-19 protocol. The tractor arrived, but the driver refused to load the body. He left the vehicle there and ran away.
It was then that Dr. Sriram decided to take responsibility. He was wearing personal protective equipment and asked the four relatives of the victim to do the same. With his help, he placed the body on the tractor and then led it to the cremation site, about two kilometers away, and performed the last rites according to their customs.
“As I practice cultivation on weekends in Karimnagar, I know how to drive a tractor. That was useful for me by taking the body of the Covid-19 on the tractor, “he said.
Dr. Sriram said he was well aware of how much pain and agony the family members of a deceased person would suffer if there was a delay in the delivery of the body for cremation.
“In July 2018, I lost my 18 year old son in a car accident in Bangalore. And I had to fight for almost 20 hours to get his body out of the hospital morgue after the autopsy. I could see the same agony on the faces of the Covid-19 family members, ”he said.
The disposal of the bodies of Covid-19 victims has become a big problem as many government officials and even family members in some cases have refused to handle the bodies for fear of contracting the virus.
There have been at least three incidents of mistreatment of the bodies of Covid-19 victims in recent weeks, all from neighboring Andhra Pradesh.
On July 10, the Nellore District Administration in neighboring Andhra Pradesh ordered an investigation into an incident by local municipal staff who allegedly transported the bodies of three victims of Covid-19 in a land movement and then threw them into a grave. , in a place adjacent to Río Penna
On July 6, Tirupati municipal authorities also used an earthmoving engine to lift the body of a Covid-19 victim from the ambulance and then threw him into a grave.
On June 26, municipal staff from the city of Palasa in the Srikakulam district used an earthmoving engine to carry the body of a Covid-19 victim from his home for the latest rites, after relatives of the victim refused to perform the last rites. At the instructions of Prime Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, district authorities suspended six municipal employees for the incident.
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