Body lies at home for 18 hours as kin wait for death certificate in West Bengal

KOLKATA: In yet another case of procedural delay to cremate a deceased Covid patient, the body of a 75-year-old woman was kept in her bedroom for 18 hours with the family members — in home quarantine — frantically calling up doctors, cops, the councillor and the state health department for help. The body was finally taken out for cremation on Friday afternoon.

Police said the Kestopur resident was suffering from fever, diarrhoea, cough and cold since last week and the family got her tested on August 2. Her Covid positive report arrived two days later. The house physician advised the family home isolation and treatment at home. However, her condition deteriorated on Thursday afternoon and she expired around 6:30pm . “The family tried to call doctors but none was ready to issue a death certificate. The family reached us for help and we informed the state health department but didn’t receive any instruction at night,” an officer of Baguiati police station said. The family had also called the councillor’s office but without much help.
It was around 9:30am on Friday that police called in a doctor and a death certificate was issued and the matter informed to the health department. Finally, the body was collected from the house around 12:30pm by health department personnel.
Bidhannagar mayor Krishna Chakraborty said all the necessary procedures were followed to collect the body of the Covid patient. The civic authorities will sanitize the building and its adjacent premises in ward 26. According to civic officials, most Covid cases in the Bidhannagar civic body area are getting reported from pockets of Kestopur and Baguiati.