UDHAGAMANDALAM: Two volunteers have taken up the task of cremating the Covid victims in Ooty. With their PPE kits on, K Jegan and L S Shridhar were busy since last September handling the process of transporting the dead bodies from the Ooty Government Medical College and
Hospital
to cremate them at the Manjanakorai gas crematorium in Ooty.
Over120 cremations
were done by them so far. Besides people who died of
Covid-19
, they cremate bodies from
poor families
who cannot afford funeral and unclaimed bodies at the GH for cremation after formal approval.
Jegan, 46, a fancy shop owner and Sridhar, 41, a grocery shop owner, at the Ooty municipal market, take the bodies of Covid-19 victims from the hospital to the burial ground in an ambulance and foot a charge of ?2,500, if the kin of Covid victims were unable to pay the municipality.
The duo said they were eager do their part since the pandemic started and helped a family to bury a Covid victim last September for the first time.
“We buried the first two bodies in the Manjanakorai grave. Subsequently, after consultation with health officials and municipal officials, bodies were cremated,” said Sridhar.
“When we started, we didn’t know if we would be able to handle the stress. But we kept on doing the work. In the first wave, most of bodies were cremated in Coimbatore district as critical patients were taken to the hospitals there. But the second wave was stressful. At a point during the second wave, we cremated11 bodies on a day,” said Jegan.
“The thought of helping families of Covid victims who had gone through a lot makes us forget the hardship of the work,” Sridhar said.
On May 20th, the duo cremated a 69-year-old tribal woman from
Gudalur
area who died of Covid at the Ooty GH. None claimed the body for six days from mortuary. “The body was released after we came forward to cremate it,” they said.
Unfortunately, their work was hindered after Jegan tested positive for the virus on May 22. He is in home quarantine presently and promises to come back to service people after he recovers in two weeks.