While India records a surge of new Covid-19 cases, the families of people who succumbed to the deadly virus are fighting a lonely battle — to provide a ‘dignified’ funeral to their loved ones.

On April 15, Sixty-nine-year-old Dr. John L Sailo Ryntathiang, founder of Bethany Hospital in Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya died due to COVID-19 complications. Dr Sailo was known for his philanthropic work and was one of the most revered doctors in the hilly state of northeastern India. He became the first COVID-19 patient in the state.

All his life Dr Sailo served many. The hospital he built in 1991 is today one of the biggest private hospitals in Shillong. But, in death, his family struggled to find a final resting place for him. For two days Dr Sailo’s body remained in his own hospital. The Government of Meghalaya had made arrangements for his cremation in Jhalupara area of Shillong on 15 April and his last rites were to be performed as per the WHO and Government of India guidelines.

To honour his family’s wishes, the government had planned to put his ashes in a coffin and bury it in his farmhouse. However, during his cremation, things got completely out of control as hundreds of people came out onto the streets claiming they feared to rest Dr Sailo in the overcrowded locality posed a health hazard. Finally, after a day, Dr Sailo was buried at the Riatsamthiah Presbyterian cemetery which had voluntarily given its space. On April 17, the Meghalaya High Court directed authorities to take legal action against anyone who obstructs the cremation or burial of COVID-19 victims in the state.

Sounds of conches and clamping utensils filled the air on March 22 to express gratitude for doctors and healthcare professionals. But now families of infected or suspected COVID-19 patients are having a harrowing time to perform the last rites of their loved ones.

“Leave alone doctors, such brutalisation [of preventing final rites of Covid-19 victims] by people is unacceptable,” said Dr RV Asokan, Secretary-General, Indian Medical Association of India. Dr Asokan says the government protocol for funeral services is of utmost importance to ensure death rituals are peacefully done.

Agrees Dr. Shimna Azeez, a lecturer at the Government Medical College of Malappuram district in the Southern state of Kerala. Currently working at a COVID facility in Malappuram, a district that has reported the maximum number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala, Dr. Azeez is appalled to hear of such assaults against the healthcare community.

“Over half of Kerala’s Saudi ex-pats hail from Malappuram. So, even though we have the highest number of foreign cases in our district, there has been no report of any kind of assault or discrimination against healthcare workers,” she said.

However, Dr Azeez points out at the plight of healthcare workers in other parts of Kerala. “Several nurses and doctors were chased away from their homes and were ostracised by their neighbours in some areas because of their exposure to patients infected with COVID-19,” she added.

There have been several reports of doctors and their families being harassed by their neighbours because of their exposure to corona positive patients infected.

In Chennai, Dr Simon Hercules, a Chennai-based neurosurgeon, was refused a proper burial by locals who protested at the cemetery where his body was taken on April 19 night. As the mob pelted stones and attacked the ambulance, his colleagues had to dig a grave with bare hands to bury the doctor. Dr Bhagyaraj, a colleague of Dr Simon, later told reporters that at one point they had to abandon the body and flee to save themselves from the mob. Even at the burial ground, when Dr Simons was about to be buried, Dr Pradeep said, a group of 50-60 people appeared there and started beating them.

“They began hitting us with wooden logs and throwing stones at us. They damaged the ambulance and hit the drivers on the head with logs. They hit the doctors and the sanitary inspectors as well. The deceased’s family was also not spared. The Corporation staff were forced to flee the spot,” said Dr Pradeep while narrating his painful experience.

At least 70 doctors have died in India due to COVID-19 mostly while treating patients. In total, 21,600 people have died so far in India from the virus, according to the official data.

Preparing people for their last rites, and helping families to find some measure of closure has been tough and extremely painful. There have been a number of cases where local people tried to prevent the last rites of COVID-19 victims because of fear of infection.

At some places, even the family members of the deceased have been attacked and assaulted. Like on June 2, residents of Domana area in the northern city of Jammu opposed the cremation of a 72-year-old man, who had died due to COVID-19 in the hospital. The family members of the person had to flee with the half-burnt body in an ambulance to save their skin from the mob which pelted stones and attacked them with sticks. Residents had resisted his cremation arguing that it would spread the infection in their area.

But can novel coronavirus spread from a patient’s body to people living around the cremation or burial site? “Cadavers do not transmit disease,” said the World Health Organisation guidelines for managing bodies of those who die of COVID-19. According to the WHO, there is no evidence of persons having developed infection of COVID-19 from exposure to the cadaver of a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 individual.

Further, Indian health ministry guidelines too state that “there is unlikely to be an increased risk of COVID infection from a dead body to health workers or family members who follow standard precautions while handling body.”

In spite of clear guidelines, misinformation and misgiving about COVID-19 bodies prevail in the society making burial and cremation of patients difficult. While citing various reasons for such irrational behaviour, Dr Asokan said, “Hyperboles, sensationalisation, and overplay by the media including social media are some of the root causes that have caused panic and stigma among masses. The fear has escalated to an extent that governments are now unable to admit the community transmission stage.”

Inadequate public awareness about disposing of COVID-19 bodies persists even at the official level. In the absence of clear guidelines, myths prevail over science. On March 30, the commissioner of Mumbai’s civic corporation issued a circular that said people who die of COVID-19 in the city would have to be cremated irrespective of their religion. However, after the intervention from Maharashtra’s minority development minister, the civic corporation withdrew the circular to allow for burials of the COVID-19 positive. In May, the Bombay High Court stepped in and dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging an April 9 circular issued by the BMC designating 20 burial grounds and cemeteries in the city for disposing of bodies of persons who died due to COVID-19.

The Court said the right to decent burial is recognised as a facet of the right to life. “Right to a decent burial commensurate with the dignity of the individual is recognised as a facet of the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution. There is, thus, no reason as to why an individual who dies during this period of crisis because of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection would not be entitled to the facilities he/she would have otherwise been entitled to but for the crisis,” the bench said in its order.

The court, quoting Oscar Wilde, said, “Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.”

The Covid-19 social distancing rules have forced people to change how to grieve the loss. The changing Covid-19 rules in different states about how many people can attend funerals are so confusing and inconsistent that they’re only causing more suffering. And when misinformation spreads, panic and fear can prevail.

On July 2, Somnath Patra, a travelling salesman in Ganjam district of Odisha died at COVID-19 hospital. When his brother and sister returned to their village with the body in the ambulance, villagers did not allow them to enter the village suspecting that Somnath had died of COVID-19. People prevented the family to cremate Somnath as per Hindu traditions. Left with no option, the siblings wrapped the body in a plastic sheet and buried him by the roadside.

As India’s Covid-19 death toll rises, the world’s second-most populous country finds itself at odds with protocols put in place by the government to handle the bodies of victims of the pandemic. This has led to increasing incidents of refusal of bodies in local cremation facilities and graveyards, bodies being taken from hospitals by relatives without protocol and failure of COVID-19 health and tragic lapses at hospitals.

On July 5, Anjum B., 35, a COVID-19 patient at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, which is India’s highest-ranked medical institute, passed away. A Muslim, her body was then apparently handed over to her family, who took her for burial. In another ward of the hospital another woman, Kusum Lata, 52, died due to COVID-19. Soon the families would learn that the bodies of Kusum and Anjum had accidentally got switched at the morgue. While Lata was sent to the burial ground, Anjum was cremated according to Hindu tradition. The hospital’s lapse was devastating for the families who did not get the chance to bury their loved one in keeping with religious tradition.

It doesn’t matter which faith or ethnicity a COVID-19 victim belongs; preparing people for their last rites, and helping families to find some measure of closure, is an extremely difficult and painful process.

“We should not forget that COVID-19 is essentially a human crisis,” says Dr Shimna Azeez. “Every single person deserves dignity in death”.