Final rites of Covid-19 patients will be performed at MCC crematorium: Mangaluru City South MLA

Jaideep Shenoy | TNN | Apr 25, 2020, 22:36 IST

MANGALURU: A tacit understanding that final rites of all Covid-19 patients in Dakshina Kannada will be performed at the Hindu crematorium at Boloor has been reached at with stakeholders. The crematorium is under the control of Mangaluru City Corporation and has electric furnace. Cremating bodies in such a controlled environment is deemed safe course of action and has also been recommended in guidelines issues by WHO.
Cremation will be carried as per guidelines of ministry of health and family affairs, Mangaluru City South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath said after meeting the stakeholders concerned. Steps have been taken to ensure there is no obstruction to giving any Covid-19 victim the dignity they deserve in death, Kamath said, adding the confusion that prevailed on Thursday with regarding to cremating second Covid victim was due to misconceptions.
Noting that the crematorium at Boloor has been set up the government and maintained and operated by MCC, Kamath said this facility will function as per various directions that the government and civic body gives periodically. The MLA with the local corporator held a series of meeting with the locals and convinced them that it was safe to cremate bodies of Covid-19 victims in accordance with guidelines that the ministry has given.
Blaming the misconceptions to wrong messages abounding on social media, Kamath said a decision on making Boloor crematorium the designated place to conduct the final rites of all Covid-19 patients was taken at a meeting that had mayor Diwakar, local corporator Jagadish Shetty, Mangaluru assistant commissioner Madan Mohan in attendance. “This decision has been conveyed to the district administration,” the MLA said.