Chennai, Apr 14 () Residents of a city localityopposed the cremation of a doctor from Andhra Pradesh who diedof COVID-19 here, forcing authorities to carry it out inanother place overnight with a top official blaming'coordination gap' for the unsavoury turn of events.
As the body of the 56-year old doctor, who died on Mondayat a corporate hospital, was taken to the cremation ground inAmbattur area, the locals protested against it, saying itmight lead to spread of coronavirus in their locality, policesaid on Tuesday.
Following the resistance, the body of the man fromNellore was taken back to the hospital mortuary, they said.
Top government sources said the man was cremated late onMonday in another locality in the city.
A top official from Chennai Corporation told that thecremation was done with the full protocol for COVID-19victims. When asked about locals objecting to the cremation, stateHealth secretary Beela Rajesh said such an incident was rareand said "coordination gap" could have been the reason behindit, but did not elaborate. "It is a very sensitive issue. Everybody in the governmentis aware of the guidelines that needs to be followed todispose (a body). We have also issued guidelines to privatehospitals. These kind of issues have not occurred in the past.A small coordination gap has occurred", she said. The government has already informed the districtcollectors about the procedures to be followed, Rajesh said,adding, "we will reinforce them again". The doctor who contracted coronavirus from a TablighiJamaat attendee was first admitted to a government hospital inNellore, about 175 km from here, and later shifted to thecorporate hospital on April 6.
He was a diabetic and also suffered from hypertension. Tamil Nadu has so far reported 11 fatalities due to thevirus while the cumulative total of those infected as onMonday stood at 1,173.
Of these, 31 of were children below the age of 10, thegovernment said. Meanwhile, 40 police personnel in Coimbatore areundergoing tests for coronavirus after a person who servedfood to a few of them tested positive for COVID19 on Monday. According to police, a 61-year old man who hadvolunteered to provide food to these police personnel on dutyat various locations was in the latest list of COVID19 cases. He had visited Delhi for personal reasons and returned tothe city on March 23 by flight. He had initially tested negative twice for the virus andvisited the police stations and district collectorate andserved food to the police personnel. However, after he developed cough and cold two days ago,the swab samples were sent for testing, and later it emergedhe was infected with the virus. He has now been admitted to alocal hospital, police said. Subsequently, health authorities approached senior policeofficials to send the 40 police personnel, including anInspector, to Primary Health Centre for testing, which wasunder progress, they said. Officials are tracking the travel contacts and familymembers of the man. Meanwhile, the blood samples of nearly 100 people,residents of an apartment complex in RS Puram area in the citywhere four people tested positive for COVID19 a couple of daysago, have been taken for tests. These include those who attended a funeral at theapartment, officials said. VIJ NVM SAVS VS
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