A lot has been said and written about how the COVID19 victims are being disowned by their own in Goa as well as the country, let alone attending the funeral, they oppose the bodies to be brought in the locality crematorium.
However, amidst all this there has been a silver lining as the Chief Minister of Goa Dr Pramod Sawant, who has become a subject of meme, due to his regular statement “bhivpachi garaz na” (no need to get scared), in wake of rising COVID19 cases.
While many across the State laughed at his statement and joked at him as the cases continue to rise and people continued to die.
But when the Goans were really scared of performing the final rights of their own, the Chief Minister stood up and showed that really “bhivpachi garaz na” when he went to attend the funeral of the former health minister Dr Suresh Amonkar.
Well, this action of the chief minister not only proved that he isn’t scared of COVID19, it also instilled confidence in the people that there is nothing to worry after a patient is dead. There is a minisicule chance of a person contracting COVID19 from another dead person.
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) too says the main driver of transmission of COVID-19 is through droplets. There is unlikely to be an increased risk of COVID infection from a dead body to health workers or family members who follow standard precautions while handling body. · Only the lungs of dead COVID patients, if handled during an autopsy, can be infectious.
Hence, the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant attending the funeral and showing the way was very critical as after that funeral, all other funerals went smoothly without any hassle and chaos as it happened in Bogda and Ponda.
What happened in Vasco was unacceptable by any means, the people objected to the funeral of two dead persons, from their own society, simply because they thought it would infect others.
What was even more shameful was the local MLA Milind Naik, instead of educating the people and convincing them, opposed the cremation. How inhuman is this? Do the people think they are never going to die or never catch COVID19? Nobody is immune to it yet…we need to understand finally everyone has to go at the same place – u can call it crematorium, kabristhan or any other name. Finally everyone has to meet the same fate.
Similar was the case in Ponda, as the bodies were cremated late night and people protested next day saying they do not want their place to become hub of cremations for all COVID19 victims. Is there any logic in this?
Such incidents are a blot on the society’s consciousness and of great concern for all of us, irrespective of party, religion and region.
Now, there is an urgent need to educate the people and remove misconceptions on COVID-19 to prevent such inhuman incidents in the future. The need of the hour is to create greater social awareness among the general public by various stakeholders.
It is highly disturbing as the doctors and the medical fraternity are risking their lives to save us during the COVID-19 pandemic. Every crematorium has to accept the victim of their locality and allow families to complete their final rites. Of Course, with all precautions.
Now, we are not defending the Chief Minister on entire COVID issue. Many of his decisions are debatable, controversial and have been far from reality but yet he has proved what he meant for once.
His action of attending late Dr Suresh Amonkar’s chief minister has indirectly put politicians like Milind Naik to shame.
It has made the people opposing the funeral to retrospect and need to respect the dead and lend support to the families in these testing times.
