THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As Covid-19 is expanding its fatal footprint across the state, it has started to expose the dark side of society. If some sections of people in the state had earlier disowned other members of society out of fear instead of paying last respects and tributes to the dead, now the family members have started to disown their dear ones who died of Covid-19.
In a rare incident, four people from Palakkad who died of Covid were cremated in a public crematorium in Thrissur after their families refused to accept the mortal remains on coming to know that they had died of Covid-19.According to N P Mohamed, health inspector, Government Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, out of four people who died of Covid — three men and a woman, the kin of three victims refused to accept the mortal remains of the dead, while the fourth one had no relatives to claim the body. They had informed the authorities to dispose of the body under the supervision and expense of the government. The medical college authorities waited over two months to dispose of the body expecting that they would change their mind, he said.
“In fact, the relatives themselves admitted the patients here when they developed Covid symptoms, except one. They had been in touch with the hospital authorities till their death. But when the victims died, some said they were in quarantine and couldn’t accept the body while others asked the authorities to cremate the body in government-owned crematorium,” he said. The first two deceased Radhakrishnan, 40, and Balan, 50, had died on August 24 and 29, respectively, while 76-year-old Komalavally and 70-year-old Komby died on September 25 and 24, respectively.
The medical college hospital has 21 working chambers and all the chambers were occupied with bodies. Later, the authorities cremated the bodies in association with Sparsham Charitable Trust at a government crematorium in Nattika on Wednesday. When the kin of the victims refused to accept the mortal remains, Palakkad district collector and health officials gave their nod to cremate the bodies in Thrissur.