Centre not allowing families to take away bodies of COVID-19 victims, says Sindh

The Sindh government claimed on Friday that in view of health experts’ recommendations, it had no objections to handing over the bodies of coronavirus patients to their families and loved ones for "proper funeral prayers and dignified burials", but it was the federal government that was not willing to change the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the burial of deceased COVID-19 patients despite repeated requests.

“On the recommendations from experts of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) and Dr Abdul Bari Khan of the Indus Hospital Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had directed the health department to revise the SOP for handing over the bodies of those who died due to the coronavirus infection to their families. But the health department says that unless the federal government revises its SOPs in this regard, Sindh cannot take this decision unilaterally,” said Adviser to the Chief Minister on Law Barrister Murtaza Wahab as he spoke to The News on Friday.

As the government has announced a strict procedure for the funeral and burial of COVID-19 patients, families of such deceased patients often show anger as they are not allowed to perform the last rites of their loved ones as per their desire.

On Thursday, attendants of a patient who had reportedly died at the COVID-19 treatment ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) ransacked the treatment facility and terrorised the healthcare providers there after they were denied the custody of the body. However, due to the timely intervention by police and Rangers, the family members of the deceased could not take the body away with them.

Under the SOP adopted by the federal and provincial governments, the bodies of all those patients who die due to COVID-19 are not handed over to their families. Instead, officials from the district administration and a welfare organisation take the bodies to designated graveyards where these patients are buried without holding a proper funeral prayer. Only two family members are allowed to witness the burial process.

Wahab said they were aware of the grief and agony of the families whose loved ones were dying due to the coronavirus, and their sorrow and pain increased manifold when the bodies of their loved ones were not handed over to them for a proper burial.

He maintained that a delegation of PIMA had called on Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and told him that the policy of refusal to give bodies to the families was resulting in serious reservations among the people. The association had recommended that after the staff in proper personal protective equipment had given them a bath, the bodies be handed over to the families in a bag or a casket so that the families could bury them by holding all the religious rituals.

“This issue is very sensitive and touchy, especially in an Islamic society where family members want to see the face of the departed soul. They want to offer the funeral prayers for the deceased and take the body to graveyards on their shoulders for burial. We are aware of the situation and would raise it with the federal government again in the coming meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) for a change in the SOPs for the burial of the deceased COVID-19 patients,” Wahab said.

Replying to a query, he rejected the allegations and rumours that some government officials were demanding money for handing over the bodies to the families. He asked the people to approach him in case any official had asked them for money for handing over the body to them. “There is no truth in this, but if somebody is demanding money, kindly let me know so that strict action could be initiated against such people,” he said.

Meanwhile, the JPMC administration also urged the provincial government to review its policy on the bodies of the deceased COVID-19 patients, saying that refusal to hand over a body had angered the family members of a deceased patient to an extent that they vandalised the treatment facility, damaging the precious equipment and machinery at the ward and terrorising the healthcare providers.

“It is requested that the SOPs regarding the bodies of COVID-19 patients may be reviewed and revised urgently in the best interest of the medical institutions as it poses a great threat to the medical staff who detain/hold the bodies till the arrival of the district administration and the welfare organisation’s people,” reads a letter written by Dr Seemin Jamali, the JPMC executive director, to the Sindh health department following Thursday’s incident at the health facility.

The Saddar police launched an FIR against seven people who were also arrested on the hospital’s premises for attacking the JPMC’s COVID-19 treatment ward and trying to take away the body of their loved one.