The COVID-19 infection has become a major challenge in terms of the management of corpses in Salyan as the death rate is increasing along with the infection.
As there is not a single hearse in the district, there is a lack of means to carry the bodies of the people who have died due to the infection.
A body of an old man who died at the District Hospital Salyan last Wednesday could not be managed for 13 hours as the hospital has no hearse to take the body away for cremation.
Rikharam Pun, Coronavirus Focal Person of the Health Service Office, of the district, said that there was a problem in the management of the bodies of COVID-19 victims due to lack of transportation services. The problem has arisen due to a lack of hearse at the health office and the local levels. At present, tippers are used to transport bodies.
The army does not even have security equipment including PPE to be used for body management. Deepak Budhathoki, a captain of the Savuj Gana Simkhark, said that the army personnel have been working at their own risk. The lack of vehicles is also a problem in the timely management of the dead bodies of virus-infected persons.
The Karnali state government, on the other hand, said that it could not immediately arrange for hearses. Karnali Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi said that even in hospitals where there was a shortage of hearses and ambulances, other vehicles have to be hired. According to him, it will take time to buy new ones, so he instructed to use rented vehicles for now.
As of Friday, 11 people died in Salyan and more than 450 are infected. After the death rate increased, a meeting of the District COVID-19 Management Committee had decided that the local levels would take responsibility for the management of the bodies. But they have not shown any interest in mortuary management at all.
Similarly, an ambulance, which is at the district hospital, has now been damaged.
Patients coming to the district hospital for emergency treatment and those referred from here are forced to rent other ambulances and private vehicles by paying expensive charges as the hospital does not have an ambulance.
Chief of the District Health Service Office, Dasharath Shrestha, said that there was no ambulance in the name of the hospital after the ambulance bought 14 years ago broke down last year. “The state government asked us to buy a new one with the budget of the hospital, but we do not have the budget for the purpose,” he said.
Source : THE RISING NEPAL,
