Cuttack Municipal Corporation frames SOP for handling bodies of Covid patients in Odisha

CUTTACK:  After receiving severe criticism from different quarters over delay in shifting bodies of deceased Covid patients, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has come up with a  standard operating procedure (SOP) for handling claimed and unclaimed bodies in the city.

The move came after TNIE highlighted the gross irregularities and inordinate delay in shifting of bodies of Covid patients by the civic body on Sunday. The CMC has framed separate SOPs for shifting of bodies from SCB Covid hospital, home isolation, Covid care centres (CCCs) and designated Covid hospitals (DCHs) to crematorium in the city.

As per the SOP, the nodal officers of DCH-1 and DCH-2 at SCB Medical College and Hospital will first upload the data of deceased patients along with the consent of family members in the dead body management WhatsApp group created by the civic body’s heath wing.

“We have deployed two supervisors at SCB Covid hospital who will coordinate in preparing necessary documents/papers and contact the attendants of the deceased patients,” said City Health Officer Satyabrata Mohapatra. After arrival of the attendants, necessary process for dead body identification and consent for cremation of body will be carried out. Following which, the CMC hearse van will lift the body to the designated crematorium in the city, he said.

Similarly, the ward officer will inform about the death of positive and suspected Covid patients in home isolation in the WhatsApp group and inform the City Health Officer. The ward officer will also collect necessary documents of the deceased patient and obtain a death declaration certificate from the nearest UCHC or UPHC following which the hearse van will be arranged for shifting of the body to the designated crematorium. The doctors engaged in CCCs and nodal officers of all DCHs will have to follow the similar process after which the hearse van will be engaged for shifting of the bodies, said Mohapatra.