Fear forces crematoria workers to go on leave
KOZHIKODE: Staff at many electric crematoriums in Kerala, where 10 Nipah deaths have been confirmed, have either gone on leave or are refusing to cremate the dead for the fear of contracting the highly contagious virus.
In Mavoor, authorities were even not aware that the staff at the electric crematorium had gone on a mass leave. Family and friends of 52-year-old Ashokan, a resident of Koorachund in Kozhikode that has reported the most Nipah deaths, had to wait for seven hours on Tuesday to perform his last rites.
It was a team of volunteers from Ivor Madom Temple in Palakkad who helped with Ashokan’s cremation. “We were in tears. The volunteers arrived after a news channel highlighted our problem,” a relative said.
Confirming reports of staff going on mass leave, Kozhikode district collector UV Jose said, “Some incidents came to our notice. We will take strict action against those who are not cooperating with us.”
Fear is widespread with panicstricken people with fever, one the symptoms of the viral infection, crowding hospitals. There is no vaccine for Nipah, which has a mortality rate of 70% in India.
The highly contagious virus, spread by fruit bats, can be contracted among humans through body fluids, the reason why authorities are insisting on electric crematoriums.
“We can’t blame them [those who have taken mass leave] because life is precious to everyone,” said a crematorium worker who did not want to be named.
Nurse Lini Puthusheri, who was infected with NIV while attending to a patient and died on Sunday, had to be taken to the crematorium in a police vehicle because ambulance drivers refused to transport her body. “Their attitude added to our shock. The police intervened and arranged a vehicle,” her husband, Sajish, said.