TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2024
Sujay Gupta (Consulting Editor Herald Publications & tweets @sujaygupta0832)
The silence of the mortuary is the loudest when you are all alone with a loved one inside. The stillness of crematoriums and graveyards couch the turmoil of those who happen to be there. But above all, these are places where the families of the dead expect dignity and care, notwithstanding the circumstances that led to their passing.
Till a little over week ago, Goa bandied its zero deaths from COVID almost as a badge of honour and luck, a fact that actually underlined the efficiency of its medical professionals. On one hand, there was the work of doctors, nurses caregivers, and other allied selfless people who are fighting COVID professionally, putting their lives on the line. On the other hand, the manner in which people and politicians of Goa have misguidedly and randomly objected to the last rites of the two COVID deceased is hurtful. Not just to the families of the two men who succumbed to COVID but to the sense of decency and dignity that we as a society should have had portrayed.
The gravity of Goa’s reaction can be felt at two levels. The first was the knee jerk worried reaction. While it can be understood, it cannot be justified. Not when the Urban Development Minister Milind Naik became a tacit backer of the crowd in his taluka and town which voiced its vehement opposition to a man of 58, from Vasco who lost his battle with COVID, from getting a decent burial in his home town. The man could have been a friend, a neighbour, an acquaintance, a fellow parent in the school or college of their children, someone who was a part of their society and even prayed for as he tested COVID positive and was taken to hospital. And then when he lost this battle, the world which had already crashed for his family got buried when locals felt that if his last rites were performed in the town, there was danger of the COVID spreading from his corpse. The layman may have both the luxury and the justifiable worry to voice this, however ill-informed but a public representative and much less a Minister has no such excuses. Neither ignorance nor “concern” for people, can get anyone who holds a public office to indirectly support opposition to performing the last rites of people who succumb to a pandemic, when there is no medical evidence to remotely suggest that pandemic is spread from dead bodies.
For sure there are guidelines and precautions but not a single one which prohibits disposal of dead bodies, in regular crematoriums or buried in cemeteries.
Let us step back and ask. If this is the panic and inhuman approach of people and MLAs after two deaths, can one imagine the nadir to which we may fall if, god forbid, COVID deaths increase in Goa.
The opposition is emanating from MLAs everywhere. The morning began with former Chief Minister and Ponda MLA Ravi Naik saying that people of Ponda were opposed to bodies being cremated there and asked the government to identify facilities in every taluka. But a former Chief Minister should have had the stature to understand the manner in which the administration, some senior doctors, the managements of THE hearse van and GVK EMRI worked, with large hearts and huge guts to ensure that two deceased Goans get a decent send-off, on their final journey.
And while many of these stories were shared in confidence with some actually requesting that their commitment shouldn’t be highlighted lest it been seen as publicity-seeking, it is important to underline their acts of heroism and above all their humanity. A very senior nursing professional at the COVID hospital refused to leave her station till the bodies of patients she looked after were decently handed over. Yes at a time friends, even relatives and close ones were hesitant to touch them, unrelated kind souls acted as angels, a team worked overtime to give dignity to fellow humans.
Two hearse van/ ambulances which went all the way to the ESI hospital where the deceased were kept, returned as the staff on the vehicles got jittery. When they came back, their head calmed them down prepared a new team counseled them and sent them back to Margao.
Then, we learned from government sources that Dr. Madhu Gaude Ghodkirekar senior Forensics professional who is currently posted in the Hospicio prepared his own team in doing an orderly and safe cremation and personally coached a team to handle the bodies as per the strict guidelines laid down by the World Health Organisation and the Centre.
Imagine a situation when the Collector South Goa and these brave hearts had to think out of the box and devise a plan to safely, securely cremate these bodies of victims whose closest relatives were COVID positive, and yet had to battle this. Protests at Vasco, a minister saying that there was opposition to a Vasco man being buried in Vasco whose wife is battling COVID and two young children at home, the son obviously wanting to and expected to perform his father’s last rites.
And then the next morning, after they performed the human act of giving the deceased a dignified cremation at Ponda, the political voices started. MGP President Deepak Dhavlikar “condemned” the government for conducting final rites saying “it creates a scare among Ponda locals”. One may ask Mr. Dhavlikar, as a former minister and long time politician doesn’t he have a role and duty to meet people in areas he has served and assure them that it is safe to dispose of a body of a COVID patient in an honourable manner?
Isn’t is the duty of the government to publicise the protocol for disposal of bodies of COVID victims, or was it in that blissful and ignorant space that Goa would see no COVID deaths.
The Kerala government has issued the following guidelines:
Trained workers should cover the dead body with a cloth and then wrap it inside a triple-layer plastic bag
Hospitals should deploy dedicated workers, who have been trained to disinfect the body and cover it
Those who come in contact with the dead body have to use the personal protective equipment kit
The body should be taken for funeral along with the help of the health personnel
After the funeral, the stretcher used to carry the dead body should be disinfected
We have just one simple question. While those involved in the last rites of the first two COVID dead, carried out these protocols fully, have all stakeholders including MLA s been briefed about this. Surely, no government can ever take that stand that COVOD deaths aren’t a possibility. The system shouldn’t depend on the sagacity and professionalism of a few individuals. Professionals are able to naturally carry out their professional tasks in an environment based on systems that everyone follows. And the system for treating those who die of COVID in a dignified manner has been laid out by other states, and importantly every public functionary knows this. If that was followed in Goa, elected MLAs, instead of echoing the voice of a confused and worried crowd, would have been voices of calm and reason. And above all, of humanity. That has been missing in what we have witnessed so far in Goa.
We are passing through a grave crisis. The least that we expect our public representatives to do is to be respectful of the dead and assure people in their constituency, with full respect to them, that it is our duty to be good humans and support decent dignified last rites. Because this pandemic spares no one. And you should do onto others, what you would want them to do to you.
