When PK Sharma, a renowned doctor in Tinsukia, a commercial hub of upper Assam, died on Wednesday due to Covid-19 complications, condolences poured in from all over.
But when it came to performing the last rites of the 75-year-old, the local administration had to seek help from five men who volunteered after the health and municipal workers refused for fear of contracting the coronavirus disease.
Dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, the men, who are members of Assam’s nearly 14,000-strong Pratirodhi Bondhu, a cadre of volunteers created by the state government, gave the doctor a dignified farewell.
“This is the first cremation of a Covid patient we had to perform in our district. After municipal workers refused to conduct the last rites, we requested the Pratirodhi Bondhus, and the five youths volunteered,” Bhaskar Pegu, Tinsukia’s district deputy commissioner, said.
The five men, all college students, are now under quarantine and awaiting their swab test results for Covid-19. Once that comes, they want to return to helping others during the coronavirus pandemic as well as the floods ravaging most districts of the state.
“I’ve never done last rites. But the moment I heard no one was coming forward to perform the last rites of the deceased doctor, I volunteered. It felt nice to be associated with the task,” a 19-year-old, one of the five volunteers, said on condition of anonymity.
The need for a dedicated group of volunteers engaged in non-medical activities related to Covid-19 who can support the local administration and the frontline workers was felt a few months ago when the pandemic first struck Assam.
Since the state is ravaged by floods each year, the volunteers were also expected to help the disaster management authorities in the districts in managing Covid-19 vis-à-vis floods—without any remuneration.
“We came up with the idea and issued an appeal in April seeking volunteers for Covid-19 related work. There was an overwhelming response and 16,000 people came forward within 4 days,” Pankaj Chakraborty, state project coordinator of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), said.
While most of the volunteers were students above 18 years of age or unemployed youths, ASDMA also received applications from doctors involved in private practice, other professionals and even popular Olympic boxer from the state, Shiva Thapa.
“Besides advocacy and awareness as well as helping in Covid and flood work the aim of engaging the volunteers was to provide emotional and psychological support to senior citizens and children in these trying times and act as bridges between community and administration,” said Chakraborty.
The volunteers are being engaged for a minimum of 10 days to maximum 60 days till September and were provided online training on basics of Covid-19 and hygiene, mental health and counselling and risk communication and community engagement before they started performing their assigned tasks.
“While frontline workers like doctors, healthcare personnel and police are leading the Covid-19 battle, the role of these volunteers is also very commendable. In our district they are engaged in flood relief, helping police in enforcing social distancing and now even assisting with performing last rites,” Ruby Gogoi, district project officer of the disaster management authority in Tinsukia, said.
Though it was not part of their assigned tasks, some volunteers also got involved in evacuating people and maintaining order when Oil India Limited’s natural gas well in Baghjan witnessed a blow out on May 27 and caught fire on June 9.
Till Friday, Assam had recorded 21,864 Covid-19 cases with 14,105 recoveries and 51 deaths. Floods in the state since May have claimed over 100 lives—76 due to drowning and 26 due to landslides.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, at present more than 35 lakh people in 28 districts are still affected by the floods and over 51,000 uprooted are taking shelter in relief camps.
As published by Hindustan Times
WhatsApp us