JOIN USTelangana: As driver refuses, district surveillance officer steers tractor carrying Covid-19 victim's body for cremation
In a compassionate gesture also meant to drive away unwarranted fears surrounding coronavirus, a district Covid-19 surveillance officer in Telangana steered a tractor carrying the dead body of a Covid-19 victim to the cremation ground.
The incident occurred on Sunday at the government hospital in Peddapalli in northern Telangana, as the municipality driver refused the task over fear of contracting the virus.
“While the driver left the tractor provided by the civic body, the sanitary personnel did not even show up. Except for three lady doctors and one nurse, none other hospital staff helped. Such was the fear. So, I provided PPE kits to the victim's family members, apprised them of the precautions and drove the tractor with them and the body for the last rites,” Dr Pendyala Sriram, Peddapalli district surveillance officer, told DH.
“I did it as a humanitarian gesture. Besides, with this act, I wanted to drive away the unwarranted fears surrounding the Covid-19 transmission,” Dr Pendyala, who is also the superintendent of a civil hospital in the district, said.
The demise of the 45-year-old diabetic male with comorbidities is the first Covid-19 death that occured in the district.
“It had been over four hours since his death and as the hospital lacks mortuary facilities, the body had to be moved out for cremation immediately. So, as the driver fled, I got into a PPE kit and took the wheel,” Dr Pendyala, who farms on weekends, holidays and is familiar with tractors, said.
The doctor’s actions of driving the body for 2 km and monitoring the final rites as per the Covid-19 protocol have earned him praise from many.
All the seven earlier deaths of Covid-19 patients from Peddapalli took place in Hyderabad, six of them at the state-run Centre of Excellence for Covid-19 Care Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad.
Lately, as per the Telangana government orders, district hospitals have also been treating Covid-19 patients.
When questioned on the tractor’s use, Peddapalli additional collector V Laxminarayana said that there was no allocation of a mortuary van for the district (formed in 2016), and the regular 108 ambulances were being used for patients’ transportation.
“The same ambulances have to be used for the Covid-19 dead bodies but then there could be public reluctance to utilize the vehicle. A proper vehicle should have been arranged,” Laxminarayana told DH.
An earlier instance of tractor use for Covid-19 victim’s body transport in Srikakulam district of neighboring Andhra Pradesh drew flak.