The death of a COVID-19 patient in Meghalaya’s Tura has exposed the inhuman and ignorant side of people.
Residents of Lower Hawakhana area at Tura in West Garo Hills district prevented the cremation of a COVID-19 victim on Sunday.
Sources said a Covid-19 patient from Tikrikilla succumbed to the disease last night at Tura Civil Hospital.
However, when the district administration on Sunday morning arranged for performing the last rites of the victim, the local residents of the area protested and drove out the health department officials.
The local residents blocked the road leading to the burial ground at Smashanghat.
Sources said the administration has now decided to take the body to Tikrikilla, the native place of the victim.
Meanwhile, family members of the victim alleged that there was no specific mortuary for Covid-19 victims in the hospital and hearse van was also not ready for transporting the body of the victim.
Earlier in April this year, hundreds of people in two areas on the outskirts of Shillong blocked the streets to disallow the body of a doctor from getting buried in their areas, fearing the spread of the disease.
The family members of Dr. John L Sailo Ryntathiang, director of Bethany Hospital in Shillong, who passed away due to multiple COVID19 complications, had to wait for at least 36 hours to find a burial ground for him in the city.