No claimants for 17 bodies as Covid scares kin into silence

Bodies of at least 17 patients who succumbed to Covid-19 at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital were abandoned by their families who feared contracting the infection. While 12 bodies were cremated by the hospital after relatives gave their consent for final rites, five still remain unclaimed

♦ Bapunagar resident Virendra Shah must have had lovely memories of time spent with his family throughout his life. Yet, when he breathed his last , no one from the family came forward to even take custody of his body

♦ Maninagar resident Mukesh Shah's family did not respond to the holspitals calls to claim his body. The hospital decided to carry out the cremation. Eventually his daughter turned up for the rites.

Since May 1, the mortuary in Ahmedabad Civil Hospital has received 47 bodies. Some of them have been identified, while a few remain unidentified. Relatives of 30 of the deceased came forward to claim the bodies. The remaining 17, all Covid-19 patients, had no takers Of these, in 12 cases, either the relatives could not be traced or they refused to come, instead giving consent to the hospital to carry out the final rites. However, there are five more bodies in the mortuary whose destinies are still undecided. According to hospital authorities, a few bodies have remained in the mortuary for 15-20 days.

As per the policy, the hospital has to keep a dead body for seven days. If there is no claimant till then, the body can be disposed of as per government protocol after permission from the police surgeon. However, the hospital has kept the bodies in the hope that someone might come forward to claim them.


There is no scientific data to prove that cadavers could transmit SARSCoV2. Proper handling during cremation or burials can therefore significantly lower this risk.

Dr MM Prabhakar, officer on special duty (OSD) at the hospital, said, “Such is the fear of contracting the infection that relatives often refuse to even come to see the body. It is extremely difficult to explain to them or convince them to take custody of the body. So, we carry out the final rites here itself after consent.”

Explaining the procedure, Dr Manish Ghelani, the police surgeon at Civil, also the post-mortem incharge, said, “When someone dies and we do not have the details of the family, we inform the police of the area from where the person was brought to the hospital. They search for the relative and inform them if they find them.”

Sons refuse to collect father’s body

In the case of Virendra Shah, a resident of Bapunagar, the hospital contacted one of his sons whose number they had. He was in Mumbai. He first said he would talk to his brother in Ahmedabad. However, when the hospital called him again, he said neither he nor his brother would be able to come. He asked them to dispose of the body as per protocol.


‘Relatives refused to recognise deceased’

After Mukesh Shah’s death, no one came to claim his body. Eventually, his daughter came for the cremation. According to Ghelani, they have seen cases where relatives refuse to recognise the deceased.

“As per the rituals, the family members have to carry the dead on their shoulders. The body is first sanitised, then wrapped properly, then sanitised again and placed in a bag. However, the fear of infection is such that they won’t even touch the body, forget carrying it. So the hospital staff does all of it,” said Ghelani.


Sanitary inspector plays son to the dead

Ranip resident Suresh Panchal and his wife Urmila were undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the hospital. Their son and pregnant daughter-in-law were in home quarantine. When Suresh died, there was no one to take custody of the body. Jaimin Barot (35), sanitary inspector at the hospital, willingly agreed to carry out the final rites. Since Urmila is a nurse at the hospital, the authorities personally assured the family that the final rites would be carried out properly. Barot helped the family witness the final rites over a video call. He also collected the ashes and handed them over to the family. This wasn’t the only time Barot played son to the deceased. “I have seen extreme cases here. In some cases, the distraught family wants to take the body of a Covid patient home, which of course we can’t allow. In other cases, the kin refuse to even come to the hospital. For any person, the final rites must be proper. Whenever I get permission to carry out the final rites, I go willingly. It is a noble cause.” He added that he was not worried about his safety as he and the others took all safety precautions.

Man bids adieu to mom, sis over live streaming

A woman and her daughter had been admitted at the hospital after testing positive. When the mother died, the hospital authorities called up her son for identification. However, he was in Chicago. So they did a video call where he identified her as his mother. A day later, his sister too succumbed to the infection and he had to go through the trauma again. He expressed his inability to fly back, but gave his consent to the hospital to carry out the final rites. Looking at his pain, the hospital authorities arranged for him to see the faces of his mother and sister for the last time and even pay his respects at their cremation.