Bhubaneswar: The Capital Hospital here has been finding it difficult to keep bodies in its space-crunched mortuary due to a large inflow of bodies over the last few months. Many bodies can be seen lying in the open as the freezers lack enough space to accommodate the increasing number of bodies.
Various local medicals including sub-divisional hospitals in the periphery of the city are referring bodies to the Capital Hospital. The hospital receives more than 15 bodies every day and most of them are found to be Covid-19 positive.
Speaking on the issue, Dr LD Sahoo, director of Capital Hospital said following the pandemic, the hospital has been recording a 35 per cent increase in the inflow as compared to the period before the onset of the pandemic. Similarly, other hospitals in the city have been witnessing a rise in patient footfalls.
Sources in the hospital told Orissa POST that the hospital had been receiving more than 15 bodies every day over the last couple of days. The hospitals on the periphery have been referring dead bodies to Capital Hospital due to strict Covid-19 guidelines for the cremation of bodies.
There are only two freezers in the hospital with a capacity to store eight bodies at one time. Similarly, unidentified bodies sent to the morgue are normally kept for three days before their disposal. This further squeezes the space.
The authorities have been keeping the bodies in the open inside the mortuary till Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation (BMC) authorities take them for cremation as per the current guidelines. The decomposed bodies kept in the open have been emitting an extremely bad odour, claimed the sources.
This apart, the fear of bodies in the open getting eaten by rodents and ants can’t be ruled out too. The situation will further deteriorate in future due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the city.
Sources in the BMC said the BMC has been cremating nearly 25 bodies every day in the crematorium at Satyanagar after it is informed by the hospital authorities. However, the authorities are failing to cremate more as relatives of patients who died due to coronavirus are either not reporting or coming very late due to the fear of getting infected. When contacted by the BMC authorities, relatives even ask for more time.