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Journalism of Courage
A day after Meghalaya reported its first death due to coronavirus, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu Friday expressed his “deep concern and agony” over the Meghalaya incident in which a 69-year-old doctor, who had tested positive for Covid-19, subsequently died and was denied last rites by the local community.
In a Facebook post, the Vice President wrote, “Deeply disturbed by a news item in today’s “The Indian Express” over a 36-hour delay to find a resting place to the dead body of a 69-year-old popular Meghalaya doctor following strong resistance from the local people. It was reported that the physician’s body lay for several hours in the hospital he had founded after attempts to bury or/cremate him were unsuccessful due to local resistance. This unfortunate behavioural from the locals forced the Chief Minister to finally intervene in the mater and help resolve the matter.”
Both, the family as well as the administration were unable to find a resting place for the doctor, and thus lay in the hospital he had founded for nearly 36 hours before he could be buried. While the family wanted to bury him in Nongpoh, where they own a house, but residents and community leaders refused, citing the virus. Then, when discussions started to cremate the body, those living near the crematorium in Shillong’s Jhalupara protested.
It was only after Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s intervention, after the government reached out to churches in the state, the doctor was finally given a burial at the Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Cemetery on Friday.
“Such incidents are a blot on the society’s consciousness and of great concern for all of us irrespective of party, religion and region. There is an urgent need to educate the people and remove misconceptions on COVID-19 to prevent such inhuman incidents in future. It is a matter of deep anguish that such an incident occurred in spite of the advisory issued by the Central Government in March for the management of dead bodies infected with novel Coronavirus (COVID-19),” Naidu wrote.
He also urged citizens to be empathetic and respond compassionately, not react irrationally, especially during these testing times. “People must act responsibly and not believe in rumours. Shared my concern with the Home Secretary and the DG, ICMR. The need of the hour is to create greater social awareness among the general public by various stakeholders,” the Vice President added.
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