The man’s two sons waited hours for authorities to recover the body.
Calcutta:
A family in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, was forced to bury a 70-year-old man, who died of COVID-19, in the compound outside their home Thursday evening after waiting 12 hours for authorities to come and take his body.
Sanatan Pradhan, who lived in a village of Kolaghat, about 80 km from Kolkata, fell ill last Sunday. He was taken to hospital for a coronavirus test the next day, after which he returned home.
On Thursday, the family were told he was coronavirus positive and an ambulance would be dispatched to take him to hospital.
Right after the family got the news, Sanatan got worse and by the time the health department ambulance arrived he was dead.
The ambulance left saying that it could not transport a body and that the police should take care of it.
The family waited several hours. Some officials came, but only to throw two sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) around the house and inform them that Sanatan’s two sons should perform the final rites.
They decided to cremate Sanatan at the burning ghat village. However, they were arrested by locals who said COVID-19 victims should be cremated away from populated areas.
In desperation, late at night, the two sons wore PPE, dug a grave on the grounds of their house and buried their father.
In the morning, locals also objected to this as the tomb was very close to a village road used by everyone. So far, there has been a solution to the impasse.
In another glaring lapse of time, no health official has come to collect swabs from the Pradhan family to test for the coronavirus since Thursday.
Officials did not answer phone calls. A panchayat member said the family will be tested for the coronavirus on Monday.
