"Even in death, human bodies are not being treated with the dignity they deserve", said the Telangana High Court while taking exception to the mess that the families of victims of Covid-19 are being made to undergo for cremation of their loved ones.
The Court was informed that in view of large number of fatalities over the past few days on account of people succumbing to the COVID-19 infection, families are not able to transport the bodies from hospitals/ homes to the crematorium grounds/ burial ground. The bench comprising of Chief Justic Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijayasan Reddy was informed about the descrepancies faced by the people during the cremation of the deceased.
As per a report in Livelaw, the court was notified that even the drivers of the ambulances, that are otherwise available free of cost are charging the public unncessarily by demanding illegal gratification for transportation of COVID-l9 infected patients from their homes to hospitals or from hospitals to homes.
Over this the court said "This is most unacceptable". It observed that it is impermissible for services that are offered by the State free of cost, to be exploited in this manner by the staff attached to hospitals or the drivers of ambulances.
Besides, the court was also notified about the bodies pililng up waiting to be cremated due to non-availability of space and lack of management. Accordingly, State has been asked to submit the details of the number and capacity of the cremation grounds and burial grounds.
Telangana's coronavirus tally mounted to over 4.19 lakh as 8,061 people tested positive while the death toll stood at 2,150 with 56 more casualties. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 1,508 followed by Medchal Malkajgiri 673 and Rangareddy 514, a bulletin said on Wednesday, providing details as of 8 PM on April 27.
The total number of cumulative cases in the State stood at 4,19,966 while with 5,093 patients being cured, the total recoveries were at 3, 45,683. The State has 72,133 active cases and more than 82,000 samples were tested on Tuesday.
Cumulatively, over 1.27 crore samples have been tested.
