CHENNAI: When the body of a 69-year-old Covid patient arrived at St Thomas Mount crematorium on Thursday, volunteers who were there to help in the burial, froze. Reason being that the feet and parts of the body came unwrapped. “Our volunteers are seeing bodies for the first time at the burial ground or crematorium. These days, bodies that come from Government Hospitals are not properly wrapped,” said Mohideen Ansari of Popular Front of India.
“However, we can’t refuse to bury the body because the family is already stressed and will not know what to do,” he added. The front has 18 teams of volunteers working in the city and claims to helped in burying and cremating 58 Covid victims belonging to all religions until now.
The group purchases its own protective equipment kits. A minimum of eight volunteers are present at each burial. “The bodies not being packaged properly has become a regular occurrence owing to increasing number of cases,” said an IT-professional, who volunteers to help cremate and bury Covid patients, mainly in Mannady and Vyasarpadi.
There are various sections of volunteers helping out families that are either unable to pay last respects as they are quarantined, or in some cases, unsure of how to handle the body. The volunteers coordinate with Corporation crematoriums and burial grounds, make all arrangements before the body arrives and carry the body to the grave. The family members stay at a safe distance and say their prayers or perform the last rites.
When contacted, a senior official at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital said the issue will be sorted out. “Even today, we held a meeting and I have instructed that there should not be delays in handing over bodies and they should be packed neatly,” the official said.