Unclaimed, abandoned bodies are piling up at the Ongole Government General Hospital (GGH) mortuary as the area locals won’t let them be buried or cremated near their villages.
As per sources, few of the bodies have been at the morgue for more than 10 days. The locals fear that the COVID victims’ bodies would not just spread the virus to people in the vicinity, but also contaminate the groundwater and soil.
In one such incident in July, a huge posse of policemen was deployed to ensure a victim’s last rites were performed. However, despite attempts at four burial grounds in Ongole and Tangutur mandal, the officials had to return the body to the mortuary, where it remains today.
“Though officials assert that the protocol for cremating or burying Covid-19 victims will be followed, the villagers are usually unwilling to budge. On the night of July 9, officials were to perform the last rites of two victims near the Gundlakamma Project hillside area, between Annangi and Burepalli villages,” sources from Prakasam district shared, adding that hearing about this, people from the nearby Timmanapalem and Yerrabalem villages and the Gundlapalli Growth Centre staged a protest on National Highway 16, causing traffic congestion for about three hours.
“The authorities wanted to bury the body in the hillocks near four villages and the Gundlapalli Growth Centre, where a large number of people live. How can we allow this amid fears of the virus spreading? Besides, the area they picked is near the Gundlakamma project, from where water is supplied to Ongole town and 140 habitations,” said M Ramesh Babu, a native of Yerrabalem.
In another such incident, two Covid-19 patients died at the Ongole GGH on July 1. When their relatives and government staff took the body to a burial ground in Ongole city, the locals and authorities of the burial ground refused to let them in though the officials explained the precautions that would be taken to avoid the spread of the virus.
“They then headed to another burial ground, but the locals there blocked the road with logs to keep them away. Following this, they went to a small village in Tangutur mandal, and from there to a village in Santhanuthalapadu mandal, but faced stiff resistance at both villages. Finally, they returned the body to the GGH mortuary,” sources shared.
“At one place where the villagers stopped us, we called for additional police personnel to tackle the situation. But by the time they arrived, thousands of people had gathered and we were helpless,” a senior police official recounted.
A meeting with locals in this regard was held at Annangi, but that too yielded no results. “It is now clear that the infection does not last after six hours (after death). Cremation of bodies will not affect anyone or contaminate the locality as the medical staff is taking the necessary precautions. The mortal remains will be packed in a zip bag after being totally disinfected. People should not behave inhumanly towards victims and their relatives,” shared an official from the Ongole GGH superintendent.
Meanwhile, Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad has been allocating patients in isolation wards next to dead bodies. In the OGH isolation ward for Covid-19 suspects, many patients had to spend an excruciating number of hours beside lifeless bodies due to administrative apathy.
One of the wards with 20 patients was forced to share the space with two dead patients for over seven hours. “It has been three days and I am somehow holding on. I have been forced to sit beside a dead woman and fight the thought that I would die next,” shared a patient who was sent for 3-day isolation to OGH.
It is learnt that the bodies are of individuals who came to the hospital two to four days ago and died even before the results came.
Since they are still in the ‘suspected’ stage and their test results are yet to come, the hospital authorities have left the bodies in the ward itself.
The acute shortage of manpower and staff has aggravated the situation. It is learnt that the staff to patient ratios are very skewed adding to the burden on the limited staffers available. This has led to unwarranted delays in shifting of bodies to the mortuary because the same staff has to tend to the other surviving patients.
“The protocol is that when a person dies without giving a sample, we let them take the body immediately. However, if samples are given, then the protocol is to wait until the report comes. Usually, in that phase, the body is shifted to the mortuary,” informed a doctor on duty.
