Mahaprasthanam conducts last rites for Covid-19 victims’ bodies

USUALLY TWO to four members of the family of the deceased are allowed to perform the ceremonies before the staff cremate the body. Each body takes about 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half to be cremated. THE REAL challenge, in addition to keeping the staff

After many incidents of opposition to burial or cremation of bodies of Covid19 victims, and an apparent lack of respect for the deceased, the Mahaprasthanam, the crematorium in Jubilee Hills, has stepped up to provide what the families of the deceased, and those who lost their lives to the disease deserve, respect, in conducting the last rites.

“We saw the plight of

Covid-19 victims’ bodies and that of their family members. So we took permission from the GHMC to offer proper and respectful last rites in such cases,” Srikant Badiga, director of Phoenix Group, which operates the crematorium as part of its CSR programme through the Phoenix Foundation, said.

As part of the offer to provide cremation services, while simultaneously providing access to priests for conducting the last rites, Mahaprasthanam management cordoned off one of its electric cremation piers to ensure the required Covid-19 protocols are followed.

There were some apprehensions among the staff initially but then they came forward voluntarily to perform the cremations, he said. “We have provided them with full body protection kits. Every cremation of a Covid-19 victim is performed with respectful handling of the body till the collection of ashes in a container,” Srikanth said.

Usually two to four members of the family of the deceased are allowed to perform the ceremonies before the staff cremate the body. Each body takes about 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half to be cremated. Typically, about eight Covid-19 victims are cremated every day. After each cremation, the entire area is disinfected and only after the full sanitisation of the cordoned off area, is another body of a

Covid-19 victim carried to the pier, he said.

The real challenge, in addition to keeping the staff safe and giving them confidence to perform their tasks, was to ensure sanctity of the entire process. While the cremation costs `10,000, and sometimes up to `13,500, “Mahaprasthanam has also been conducting

Covid-19 cremation free of cost when required,” Srikanth said.