RAIPUR: Amid a terrifying surge in coronavirus cases, bodies of Covid patients are piling up at a mortuary and Ambedkar Hospital in Raipur faster than they can be cremated. Deaths in home isolation and unclaimed bodies are adding to the backlog, say officials. Raipur has reported 170 Covid deaths in the eight days of April — far more and faster than the city’s crematoriums and graveyards can handle. The Raipur administration has earmarked 25 additional sites for burial and cremation, say officials. 

Durg and Raipur are the worst affected in what’s being called the ‘second wave’ of Covid infections, and are under lockdown. Additional collector NR Sahu said, “There is a load of managing dead bodies in Raipur district for the past week. After the death of a Covid patient, documentation and issuance of cremation letters take time. Then, dedicated ambulances are needed, but they are on the move around the clock for Covid patients.”

Raipur Municipal Corporation additional commissioner Pulak Bhattacharya Pulak Bhattacharya told TOI that 55 bodies are being cremated in Raipur city on an average every day. “Majority of them are Covid patients. Unfortunately several deaths are happening in home isolation and people are not informing on time, which puts extra pressure on the teams engaged in managing cremations,” he said. 

Seven ambulances are deployed to carry Covid bodies and RMC will request the health department for more, said officials. The corporation has requested private hospitals to store bodies in freezers for a day until those that have been taken to cremation grounds are cremated. Electric crematoriums in Raipur can handle 20 bodies per day, said an RMC official. 

The government-run Ambedkar Hospital, where ICUs and oxygen equipped beds are 100% occupied for the past week, is struggling with a pile-up of bodies in its mortuary. “Due to an increase in Covid admissions in the past two days, piling of bodies has increased in the mortuary. Most of the bodies are left unclaimed due to which it takes time,” said an official.

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