COVID-19 dead body carried to graveyard in auto rickshaw in Telangana, pictures go viral

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, July 12

After the dead body of a COVID-19 victim was transported in an auto for the last rites in Nizamabad town of Telangana, state’s Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr K Ramesh Reddy on Sunday ordered an enquiry to fix the responsibility of the lapse.

Several, people are believed to have come in contact with the family and the auto exposing them to the risk of contracting COVID-19.

The incident has caused panic in the Nizamabad town in northern Telangana as this may not be the only case of the kind where the body of the deceased was released directly to relatives instead of following standard protocols in such cases by government hospitals in the city.

According to the sources in the hospital, and as per the initial findings, the body of the deceased was released to their relatives by the mortuary officials at the hospital. The relatives transported the body in auto-rickshaw and performed the last rites, thereby exposing several people to COVID-19. A list is now being prepared of all those who may have come in contact with the body or the relatives who moved the body.

The DME has instructed the Nizamabad Hospital Superintendent to file criminal cases against the staff that handed over the body. Strict instruction has been issued not to allow families to take possession of the body. Some private hospitals are reportedly asking for huge amounts of money to dispose of the bodies.

Dr Reddy said: “All hospital superintendents in Telangana are instructed to strictly follow the guidelines and such incidents should not be repeated in the public interest.”

On the other hand, in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu has criticised the hospitals and municipal bodies in Andhra Pradesh for putting the bodies of COVID-19 victims in mass graves, and in one instance, using a JBC machine.

Andhra Pradesh has reported three cases where the dead have been put into a mass pit or a river or given an indecent burial, making this into a political issue.