<p>Efforts to perform the last rites of the Shillong-based doctor, who succumbed to COVID-19 on Wednesday were halted twice by 'scared locals' before a church helped the Meghalaya government to conduct the same on Thursday afternoon.</p>.<p>The doctor's family members too could not take part in the funeral as six of them also tested positive. </p>.<p>The 69-year-old doctor, John L. Sailo Ryntathiang died at Bethany Hospital he owned in Shillong at around 2.45 am on Wednesday, less than 48-hours he tested COVID-19 positive. This was Meghalaya's first COVID-19 positive case.</p>.<p>By afternoon the government authorities had started preparation to perform his last rites as per protocols of the Centre and World Health Organisation. They wanted to cremate the body in an electric crematorium at Jhalupara in Shillong and later put the ashes in his coffin for burial at his farmhouse at Nongpoh, about 50-km away towards Guwahati. But a committee of local residents there did not allow the cremation saying that the staffs in the crematorium were not equipped to cremate a COVID-19 positive person's body. They feared that the virus could spread to their areas while performing the last rites.</p>.<p>The authorities later decided to bury his body at Nongpoh but a darbar (a traditional local council) opposed the move saying the doctor was not a local resident. The district administration officials held discussions with the influential committee but failed to break the ice.</p>.<p>As the doctor's body remained stranded in his hospital compound for hours and the authorities in the hilly state struggled to finalise a place for last rites, many in Shillong took to social media and expressed angst over the development. "It's really heartening to see a doctor being denied a place for last rites. We all know how Dr. Sailo was respected in Shillong and elsewhere but now when he is no more, what are we doing to him?" asked one resident of Shillong in his Facebook post.</p>.<p>The outcry invited the attention of some churches, who later came forward to help the state government. Finally, the doctor's body was buried on Thursday afternoon at Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Cemetry in Shillong. "Kindness is the need of the hour and our gratitude goes to the Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Church for their gesture. May his soul rest in peace," Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma tweeted after the last rites were performed. </p>.<p>The state health officials suspected that Sailo had contracted the virus from his son-in-law, who had a travel history to New York and Delhi. He visited in law's house in Shillong on March 22. Authorities have already sealed his two hospitals in Shillong and Nongpoh and put all his contacts into quarantine to contain the spread of the virus.</p>
<p>Efforts to perform the last rites of the Shillong-based doctor, who succumbed to COVID-19 on Wednesday were halted twice by 'scared locals' before a church helped the Meghalaya government to conduct the same on Thursday afternoon.</p>.<p>The doctor's family members too could not take part in the funeral as six of them also tested positive. </p>.<p>The 69-year-old doctor, John L. Sailo Ryntathiang died at Bethany Hospital he owned in Shillong at around 2.45 am on Wednesday, less than 48-hours he tested COVID-19 positive. This was Meghalaya's first COVID-19 positive case.</p>.<p>By afternoon the government authorities had started preparation to perform his last rites as per protocols of the Centre and World Health Organisation. They wanted to cremate the body in an electric crematorium at Jhalupara in Shillong and later put the ashes in his coffin for burial at his farmhouse at Nongpoh, about 50-km away towards Guwahati. But a committee of local residents there did not allow the cremation saying that the staffs in the crematorium were not equipped to cremate a COVID-19 positive person's body. They feared that the virus could spread to their areas while performing the last rites.</p>.<p>The authorities later decided to bury his body at Nongpoh but a darbar (a traditional local council) opposed the move saying the doctor was not a local resident. The district administration officials held discussions with the influential committee but failed to break the ice.</p>.<p>As the doctor's body remained stranded in his hospital compound for hours and the authorities in the hilly state struggled to finalise a place for last rites, many in Shillong took to social media and expressed angst over the development. "It's really heartening to see a doctor being denied a place for last rites. We all know how Dr. Sailo was respected in Shillong and elsewhere but now when he is no more, what are we doing to him?" asked one resident of Shillong in his Facebook post.</p>.<p>The outcry invited the attention of some churches, who later came forward to help the state government. Finally, the doctor's body was buried on Thursday afternoon at Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Cemetry in Shillong. "Kindness is the need of the hour and our gratitude goes to the Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Church for their gesture. May his soul rest in peace," Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma tweeted after the last rites were performed. </p>.<p>The state health officials suspected that Sailo had contracted the virus from his son-in-law, who had a travel history to New York and Delhi. He visited in law's house in Shillong on March 22. Authorities have already sealed his two hospitals in Shillong and Nongpoh and put all his contacts into quarantine to contain the spread of the virus.</p>
