The public should realise that burying a corpse will not spread COVID-19 but when hundreds gather to protest against the burial, that is when people pave the way for contracting the virus, said PMK leader Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, expressing regret over people’s action for denying a burial place for Dr Simons, a 55-year-old neurosurgeon and Managing Director of New Hope Hospital, who died due to COVID-19 in Chennai on Sunday.
Condemning this, the former union minister for Health and Family Welfare called the act sheer negligence, lack of knowledge, unnecessary fear and beyond this, an act of selfishness, in a social media post titled: “If it is true that doctors are respected as god, like fellow humans, you will allow for their last rite to take place.”
Reiterating that the people were selfish, he said, the public was afraid that the corpse buried 8-ft-deep could give them coronavirus but doctors are treating patients by coming in close contact. If the doctors deny giving treatment and act selfishly then the whole world would turn into a graveyard, he reminded.
Miffed by the turn of events, Anbumani said that the information of a doctor’s death due to coronavirus came as a shock but people’s resistance to bury his body in a graveyard caused him deep sorrow.
“On one hand, we are clapping hands during the lockdown to appreciate the efforts of the doctors while on the other hand, we are denying a place for burial to the frontline doctor who fought coronavirus. This contradiction is hurting,” he said.
PMK leader called the people of Tamil Nadu to view doctors as gods for fighting the invisible COVID-19 and people should also refrain from indulging in activities that insulted or hurt the medical professionals.
Stating that the Army jawans are getting their last rites with 21 bullet shots, he said, similarly the doctors who fight coronavirus should also be given the same respect and last rites. “At least, if people do not have a heart like that (to give respect to army men), people should at least allow the last rites of doctors to take place,” the Member of Rajya Sabha said in the Facebook post.
The leader from the party, which is in alliance with the ruling AIADMK, said, “More than 12 medical professionals who are treating COVID-19 patients have contracted the virus and to stop this from happening, the government should take action to provide more PPE (personal protective equipment) for medical professionals.”