On April 4, the Stanley Hospital in Tamil Nadu came under the scanner after the swab test result of a 70-year-old man who died on April 2 was found positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus. The patient was a resident of Chennai and had recently travelled to Dubai. He died within 2 hours after he was admitted to the government hospital.
As per a report in the New Indian Express, the family members said that the authorities kept them uninformed about the likelihood of the patient dying due to the pandemic. As such, no precautionary measures were taken. 101 people who had attended the funeral, including family members, have now been kept under home quarantine in Ramanathapuram.
The family took the body of the deceased via an ambulance to Keelakarai in Ramanathapuram on the same night of his death. His body was buried the following day around 10 am. A family member claimed, “At the hospital, we were neither informed that he was a suspected COVID-19 patient nor that his samples were drawn for testing.
The body was handed over to us wrapped in a green-colored cloth.” When the test results returned positive on Saturday, it was only then that the hospital authorities informed the family. The area around the house has now been disinfected and sealed.
“The man came very late and was in the hospital for only two hours. In that time the doctors did everything they could. Samples were also taken and sent for testing. After coming from Dubai he was under home quarantine. Following necessary guidelines, the body was handed over after packaging”, Health Secretary Beela Rajesh was quoted as saying in Chennai.
Hospital authorities also denied any wrongdoing on their part. A senior doctor said that the patient’s family was asked to follow protocol. The hospital management said the samples were received on Saturday night and refuted claims of delay.
it is reported that Ramanathapuram MLA M Manikandan had also visited the deceased and has been put under quarantine.
Earlier, the Archdiocese of Bombay, Cardinal Oswald Gracias had appealed to his followers to cremate the bodies of those who have died of Coronavirus. Calling upon the clergy of all the churches in Mumbai, the cardinal has asked them to follow their instructions issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) and the burn the dead bodies of Christians who died of Coronavirus.
As per a WHO report, the burial of coronavirus patients poses the risk of a further outbreak of the disease but the cremation doesn’t hold any such risks. The report said that when the body is burnt in an electric machine, its temperature is around 700– 1000 ° C. This causes the virus to die and there is no risk of it spreading. However, the WHO says that if a dead body of a coronavirus victim is buried, the risk of its spread aggravates. The WHO report states that if such a body is buried in the ground, then care should be taken that there is no water source within 30 meters of the burial site.
