CUTTACK: Ill-Equipped and unaware of norms to adhere to while cremating bodies of Covid-19 patients, the workers at Khannagar crematorium are apprehensive of being exposed to coronavirus. They have demanded testing of their swab samples.Their fear is not unfounded as the workers have not yet been provided a standard operating procedure (SOP) on cremation of such bodies. Neither do they know how to wear and dispose PPEs after use nor do they have enough gloves and sanitisers. The crematorium is also not sanitised at regular intervals despite cremation of people who died of Covid-19.
This month, three such persons have been cremated at the crematorium - one on June 12 and two more on Sunday last. The crematorium has 12 staff including three electricians, four sweepers, four security guards and a clerk. While five of them are permanent staff of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), the rest are engaged by the civic body through outsourcing. Bodies of Covid-19 patients are cremated at the LPG-run furnace in the facility.
Of the 12 staff, the permanent workers mostly abstain from staying inside the crematorium due to fear of being infected. As a result, the cremations have to be carried out by the remaining staff who shift the body from the hearse, place it in the furnace and hand over the urn containing the ashes of the deceased.
While the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare mandates that the cremation ground staff should maintain hand hygiene before and after cremation and wear gloves, masks while receiving and cremating the body, the Khannagar crematorium staff said they have just been provided PPEs by the civic body but not explained about its disposal or provided SOP for the job.
The CMC had provided them 19 PPE kits on June 12 and 9 more on June 21. “We wear the PPEs while receiving and cremating the bodies and after the process, we throw them into the same furnace”, said a staff.Demanding that their swab samples be tested for coronavirus, the workers have also urged the Government to provide their health insurance and treat them as Covid warriors.City Health Officer (CHO) Satyabrata Mohapatra, the nodal officer for coordinating Covid cremations at Khannagar, did not comment on the issue. Recently, the civic body had hurriedly restored the furnace at Khannagar crematorium which was lying defunct after being ravaged in cyclone Fani and made it as a Covid-19-designated crematorium.