The business of death

Middlemen and agencies have sprung up to offer a slew of burial services at unreasonable prices, holding the families of the deceased to ransom

It’s not easy to lose someone you know, and Covid makes it harder because you can’t even say a final goodbye, because of all the protocols.

As if this was not bad enough, families of those who died of covid are alleging that they are forced to opt for ‘package deals’ for burial/cremations in the City from agencies and individuals who have sprung up to meet this need.

A man who had lost a relative to covid said, “We have been asked to pay Rs 35,000 for a burial package which includes shifting the body from the hospital in an ambulance to the burial ground and then arranging for the last rites.” Another family member said, “The breakup of the package includes Rs 13,000 to Rs 35,000 for transportation of the body to the crematorium and the prices differ based on the distance between the hospital and the crematorium. We have been asked to shell out Rs 10,000 for the last rites at the crematorium and Rs 1,000 each for PPE kits for the family members. We are asked to pay a bribe of Rs 6,500 for burial/cremation since it is a Covid body.”

A family member said, “We have already spent lakhs of rupees for the treatment of the patient and now we are asked to spend unreasonable amounts for burial. If we refuse to pay, we are made to wait for hours. Who wants to argue at this time of sorrow. So people end up paying and it is sad to note that the BBMP has failed to act.”
Meanwhile, a shocking video from ESI Hospital in Rajajinagar has gone viral where a body is seen kept next to Covid patients in the hospital. Sources said that as the staff required time for putting the body into a body bag, and there was no place in the mortuary, the body was kept on the bed itself. However, the patients who were next to the body were complaining to the family members that it was affecting them.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar has said that all those returning from Kumbh Mela (Hardwar, Uttarakhand) have to isolate themselves at home and take an RT-PCR test and they could resume normal activities only if they test negative.

Reacting to the issue of the people being fleeced for Covid burial, BBMP’s chief health officer said 49 hearse vans have been deployed by the civic agency to provide free transportation of the deceased to crematoria. “BBMP has kept aside seven electric crematoria for Covid deceased at Kudlu, Panathur, Medi Agrahara, Banashankari, Peenya and Sumanahalli. All the services are free and patients are not supposed to pay”, said the officer.