The government of Sindh has issued new standard operating procedures for burials of those who have died of the novel coronavirus, spokesperson Senator MurtazaWahab said on Monday. In a post on Twitter, Wahab explained that bodies of the deceased could be handed over to their families “for a normal burial” after shrouding, which removes the risk of coronavirus spread. “Once the ghusal is done with all protection & shrouding is done, body can be handed over to the legal heirs for a normal burial since after shrouding there is virtually no risk of #Covid19 transmission,” Wahab said. Last week, the government of Sindh had accused its federal counterpart over the SOPs governing the burial of Covid-19 fatalities, saying the Centre could not unilaterally take a decision to allow bodies to be returned to relatives unless it revised the procedure. Wahab, the spokesperson, had said that the provincial government did not have any objections in handing over the bodies of Covid-19 patients to their families for “proper funeral prayers and dignified burials”. “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 [Sindh] health department says that unless the federal government revises its SOPs in this regard, Sindh cannot take this decision unilaterally,” Wahab had said. As the government had announced a strict procedure for the funeral and burial of Covid-19 patients, families of the deceased often show anger over not being allowed to perform the last rites of their loved ones. On Thursday, the attendants of a patient who had reportedly died at the COVID-19 treatment ward at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi ransacked the treatment facility and terrorised healthcare providers after they were denied custody of the body.
