Many deaths, not enough hearses: Raipur’s Covid toll sees hospitals truck bodies to funerals

With hearses running out, hospitals such as Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital are being forced to use trucks to transport as many as 10 bodies at a time to the cremation.

A Covid patient’s family members watch the funeral pyre burn | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

New Delhi: Chhattisgarh’s Raipur has witnessed an unprecedented rise in Covid-19 deaths in the past month, which has overwhelmed the healthcare system in the capital city.  According to government data, deaths have increased by 2,000 per cent over the past month in the city.

As a result, Raipur has run out of hearse vans to transport bodies for the last rites. One such hospital, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial (BRAM) Hospital, used a truck to transport those who succumbed to Covid-19. The bodies of at least 10 patients were packed into the truck as their families looked on.

While families were initially unwilling to consent to this mode of transportation, they had to ultimately acquiesce since there was no other available way to move the bodies to the crematorium.

Chhattisgarh has been recording new Covid highs every day, reporting the third-highest cases across the country Tuesday. It is also among the five states that are contributing 68 per cent of India’s total active cases.

Here are a few snapshots from Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial (BRAM) Hospital in Raipur.

A healthcare worker moves the body of a deceased Covid patient on a gurney for transportation | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Bodies from Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital being placed in a truck for being transported to the crematorium | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Family members wait outside the mortuary of the hospital for the bodies of their loved ones in Raipur | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Bodies of Covid patients being taken for cremation | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Municipal workers unload a deceased Covid patient’s body at the cremation ground in Naya Raipur | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

A bereaved family member at the cremation ground in Raipur | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Bodies of Covid-19 victims are placed on funeral pyres at the cremation ground | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

A family member pays his last respect | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

A view of the funeral pyres burning at the cremation ground in Naya Raipur| Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

(Edited by Rachel John)