Sindh government has urged the federal government to reconsider its existing policy on the handing over of dead bodies of COVID-19 patients to their family and relatives.
Sindh government has stated that the centre cannot unilaterally decide the policy on the custody issue of the dead bodies of COVID-19 patients, urging the federal government to revise its existing policy on the matter as Sindh government has no objection regarding the dead bodies of COVID-19 patients being handed over to their families.
“On the recommendations from experts of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) and Dr Abdul Bari Khan of the Indus Hospital Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had directed the health department to revise the SOP for handing over the bodies of those who died due to the coronavirus infection. But the health department says that unless the federal government revises its SOPs in this regard, Sindh cannot take this decision unilaterally,” he noted.
According to Murtaza Wahab, the policy of not allowing families to bury their loved ones is resulting in severe public dissent and anger.
“They want to offer the funeral prayers for the deceased and take the body to graveyards on their shoulders for burial. We are aware of the situation and will raise it with the federal government again in the coming meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) for a change in the SOPs for the burial of the deceased,” he added.
The statement comes as earlier, on Thursday, attendants of a COVID-19 patient who had succumbed to the novel virus demanded the dead body of their loved one to be handed to them and ransacked Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) after failing to secure the permission from authorities.
It is to be noted that according to the instructions and guidelines issued by the federal government, the dead body of any COVID-19 patient is not to be handed over to family/relatives and the burial is carried out by district administration with the help of staff from welfare organizations while ensuring all the preventive measures and SOPs to prevent virus spread.
