‘Not just numbers’: Campaign vows to document every Covid death

Citizen activists came together on Sunday to remember and document the experiences of families and individuals who lost their loved ones to the pandemic.

Their campaign, called ‘Count every death’, seeks to remember people who fell to the disease as well as those who died owing to the government’s negligence. Citizens and activists from many parts of Karnataka spoke during the event.

Activist and artiste D Saraswati said they would document all the people who died due to lack of oxygen, hospital admission, medicine or food. “We are here to establish our bonds by remembering all those as ours. We are here to thank doctors, Asha workers, crematorium workers, pourakarmikas and volunteers,” she said.

At the event, many questioned the government’s lack of preparedness for the pandemic. “We will gather every Sunday and try to ensure these are not just numbers but living and breathing people,” Saraswati said.

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Narayanamma, a pourakarmika, inaugurated the event by lighting a candle. She said her friend and colleague Susheelamma died in hospital after developing breathing problems. “We don’t know whether she got oxygen. Maybe she would have lived had she got it. The government has announced a Rs 30 lakh compensation to her family. We demand that a member of her family be given a job by the government,” she said.

Shouri Raj, who heads an association of crematorium workers in the city, said they had been working from 6 am to nightfall every day and would continue to do so. “I have seen so much pain that it made me cry. The words of people who bring the bodies still weigh on my mind,” he said. “I don’t wish such pain even to my enemies.”

Poet Sharifa K read out a poem that questioned the need for constructing buildings at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore when people are not able to pay for beds and oxygen.

Bureaucratic apathy

Shivalinge Gowda, an activist from Chamarajanagar, blamed the bureaucracy for the death of 24 people there due to lack of oxygen. “In reality, 36 people died in the Chamarajanagar hospital,” he said and accused the deputy commissioners of failing to ensure the supply of oxygen. “The MP from Mysuru gave one statement after tragedy and another today,” he said.