As rain pounded the city throughout Friday night and continued till Saturday morning, the body of an elderly woman had to be kept in an ambulance for more than nine hours till her burial, as the hospital where she died and the apartment where she lived refused to let in.
Her family members and the ambulance driver took turns to guard the body throughout Friday night.
The 65-year-old woman lived with her family at Masab Tank, and was suspected to be COVID-infected. She was admitted to a private hospital in Mehdipatnam and passed away late on Friday evening.
E. Pradeep, driver of the ambulance run by Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), a local NGO, said that the hospital was not willing to keep the body. Residents of the apartment where the woman’s family stays also did not allow her body to be brought in for the night. The ambulance had to be parked near the building as it continued to pour heavily. “We waited near the apartment’s parking lot till the grave was dug in the morning. All this happened while it rained heavily,” said Mr. Pradeep.
HHF trustee Mujtaba Hasan Askari said that while government hospitals and major corporate hospitals have mortuary facilities, mid-range private hospitals do not have that provision.
“If freezers and other facilities are provided at graveyards and crematoriums, people will not be put to such distress,” he said.
