He had been self quarantined since the ‘janata curfew’; the maid was asked to stop working. the gates of the house sealed and opened only for essential shopping.
Yet, senior resident of Luz Church Road, Raghupathy who walked every day till the lockdown and was well and in his 70s, developed a cough, was diagnosed as virus positive, moved to a hospital and passed away some 24 hours later.
We spoke to Raghupathy’s son, K S R Anirdudha to understand the sequence of events that follow a person who is taken to a private hospital and passes away – as was this case.
The local sanitary inspector of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) gets to know of the ‘positive case’ once the results are out. He makes a visit. His counterpart in the hospital zone gets alerted when the patient is wheeled in.
That GCC staff keeps a tab via updates from this hospital, in this case a private hospital in Vanagaram.
The family of the patient has no access to the person once admission is done, fees paid. Doctors update them on the condition.
When the patient passes away ( in this case, of Raghupathy), the family is informed and the local GCC staff and local police are alerted. The body is worked on as per pandemic operating procedures and sent to the hospital mortuary. Papers are processed.
Anirudha says the GCC offers one or two options for cremation. The Vanagaram crematorium was on offer but dropped when the GCC staff said there seems to be some tension in the area on the increasing number of corona dead being cremated here. “Misconceptions of pollution still exist.”
So they chose the Besant Nagar crematorium. All procedures are handled by the GCC, again following strict regulations. Only two members of the family are allowed to take a look at the dead person’s face before the body is wheeled into a mortuary van.
The crematorium, van and body is sanitised again at the crematorium; the family of two/three must stay afar.
Cremation is simple. Sanitisation takes place again.
In this case, the GCC staff advised the family not to ask for the ashes. Anirudha says he did not want to debate this and left.
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Very unfortunate ! No words to comment anything !!
Even all precautions made, the COVID 19 virus infected. How this was happened ? The authorities should analyse the mode of transmission and save the public.
The message from the great soul is that everyone should strictly follow the instructions issued by the Govt., to save Nation.
I pray the Almighty to give strength to his son and family members !
Humans are part of nature…! The Nature doesn’t exhibit any emotions….!! It is NEUTRAL…
While this is the unfortunate reality of the situation in Chennai during this time, this death should not be simplified or reduced to a step by step process by any means as the article is presented. While I understand the purpose of this article may be informative to the general public, the Mylapore Times needs to do a better job of commemorating one’s life rather than the steps and procedures taken during one’s final stages.
We are with you spiritually Anirudh.God Bless. Please take care.
Words Fail to express I can feel the agony of the loved Ones
But This is sad. Not even a small memory is left. Very bad way to die!
Think the virus is bringing us to realise the fact that we will be alone in death ,no matter who or what we are!!