In Kolkata, a man was denied to be cremated as he was COVID positive. The family desperately tried to contact the local authorities to let them perform the last rites but they were denied. After receiving ‘No Help’ the body was kept in the freezer for around 48 hours by its family members.
The 71-year-old man suffered breathing issues and breathed last on Monday at Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani in the central part of the city, health department sources said on Wednesday.
The doctor went to the apartment and confirmed the death but since he was a COVID patient he denied to give the death certificate. He asked the family members to contact the Amherst Street Police station under which the area falls.
Police told them to contact the local councillor but it came of no help.
“But there too we did not receive any help and we were asked to get in touch with the state health department,”
One of the family member said:
“We even made several calls to the helpline given to us by a person when we called up the health department but nobody responded,”
The family contacted various mortuaries but the calls were unanswered and the family decided to keep the body in freezer
“We made several calls to the local councillor and the state health department but no one helped us. Calls were not answered. That’s why decided to keep his body at home inside a freezer,”
The COVID reports came positive on Tuesday.
“In fact even after getting the test reports we kept on calling the state health department but there was no response. On Wednesday morning, we got calls from the health department and told them everything,”
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation contacted for the man’s last rites
“His body will be cremated as per the ICMR guidelines for COVID-19 deaths,”