Qayoom Khan
Pulwama: In Pulwama’s Tujjan Village, a 55-year-old woman’s dead body was handed over to her family wrapped in a blanket, breaking the protocol of how dead bodies of COVID positive patients is to be handed over to the kith and kin.
The protocol ensures that the infection does not spread. However, in this case, the body was sent wrapped in a blanket.
Free Press Kashmir quoted Block Medical Officer, Dr. Javid Ahmed as saying “the 55-year-old woman, Bhat Raja, had tested positive for COVID-19 after being tested at SMHS. From there she was referred to SKIMS where she died due to a cardiopulmonary arrest.”
As per the protocol for burying dead bodies, the hospital authorities are responsible for the safe burial of patients succumbing due to Coronavirus.
The body has to reach the family in a wooden box, as a precautionary measure to prevent the risk of infection spreading from a dead-body if any person comes in close contact.
“We were told to make arrangements for the burial and keep a twelve metre long rope ready. Everything was prepared but when the body reached here in an ambulance, we were shocked to see only a blanket wrapped around the deceased,” a local said.
“There were COVID deaths in other villages but their bodies were handed over in the box, then why wasn’t it done this time? Is it because the deceased was not positive?” Abdul Gani Lone, a local, asked in a puzzled voice.
The locals, with the help of local administration in Pulwama, worked to build a coffin urgently, for the burial to take place safely.
“If the locals have to make arrangements for the burial, and someone gets infected, the authorities will have to take the blame for that,” another local said.
Courtesy : Free Press Kashmir
