With the number of COVID-19 bodies being brought in seeing a sharp rise in recent days, staff at the city’s electric crematoriums are struggling to cope with the increased workload.
For the past week, the electric crematoriums at Shivaji Park in Dadar and Chandanwadi in Kalbadevi are working at 50% capacity as one furnace each in both facilities has been shut down for repairs. Though there are 11 electric crematoriums in the city, the facilities at Shivaji Park and Chandanwadi are among the few that have two furnaces each. These two crematoriums have been handling most of the workload as they are located near major hospitals.
An average of 15 to 18 bodies are brought in every 24 hours and most of them are of COVID-19 patients, an employee at the crematorium in Shivaji Park said. “The furnace has been functioning continuously. At the end of the day, it is a machine, it will need some time to cool off. But that has not been possible for many days,” he pointed out. The staffer said, “Most ambulances now bring two bodies in one trip.” The employees at the crematorium have been instructed to quickly dispose of the bodies of COVID-19 victims, but with only one furnace functioning, there is a queue of bodies.
On Monday evening, at the crematorium in Chandanwadi there were four bodies of COVID-19 patients yet to be disposed of. An employee said, “Once the body is placed in the furnace, the process takes about one-and-a-half hours. Then the furnace has to be cleared.” The staffer said the number of bodies has been increasing at the crematorium in the past two weeks. “We are getting an average of 20 bodies, of which 70% are of COVID-19 patients,” he said.
On Monday, at the crematorium in Bhoiwada, two bodies were in each of the two furnaces, and three more were yet to be cremated. The second furnace became operational only last week.
Employees at the crematoriums are working in an atmosphere of fear after a staffer who operated the furnace at Shivaji Park tested positive. While staffers at Chandanwadi and Bhoiwada said they have been put on a prophylaxis course of hydroxychloroquine, those at Shivaji Park alleged that they have not been given any medication so far.
Dr. Padmaja Keskar, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s executive health officer, said work was in progress to repair the two furnaces. She said, “Most hospitals are near [Shivaji Park and Chandanwadi] crematoriums, which is why they get most of the bodies.”
However, employees at Chandanwadi and Bhoiwada said they have been receiving bodies even from as far as SevenHills Hospital in Marol. “There is no thought given to equal distribution,” said an employee.
According to the infection control protocol, all COVID-19 bodies have to be cremated in electric crematoriums and burials can take place only in large grounds after following protocol.