While the pandemic has put doctors and nurses in the spotlight in the fight against the coronavirus, the staff of the Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) are truly among the unsung heroes as it is they, as part of the Covid death management teams, that undertake the burial or cremation of the disease’s victims, doing so in a way that is safe and yet maintains the dignity of the departed.
Maskel Lyngdoh, Assistant Manager of Solid Waste Management at the SMB, said that the municipal staff have already buried around 500 Covid-19 victims in East Khasi Hills.
Lyngdoh told this to Highland Post yesterday after the SMB team were felicitated by the Dorbar Shnong of Laban for their vigorous contribution in the fight against the disease. The Dorbar also honoured the Seng Kynthei, Seng Samla Laban, Laban Muslim Youth Association and Make Someone Smile for their efforts.
“The second wave of this pandemic since May was the toughest and, with few municipal staff under the team, the SMB staff sometimes have to take care of more than 15 dead Covid patients a day in every nook and corner of the entire East Khasi Hills district with no fix hours of duty, which is a herculean task,” he said, adding that, at times, the staff have to be at the burial site or place of cremation up to 10:00pm in order to complete their duties.
Fear gripped the SMB staff, as it did the whole of Meghalaya, when the pandemic hit the state back in April last year with the first Covid death.
Recounting the process, Lyngdoh said, “A meeting was then convened by the CEO of the SMB in the presence of other officials where the guidelines to handle a dead Covid patient were briefed to us and from then onwards to date the municipal staff have been the ones who handle this job efficiently when even the family members of Covid victim were hesitant to go near the bodies.”
Meanwhile Wompher Shadap, Community Coordinator SIPMIU, Urban Affairs deputed in SMB as supervisor of the Covid death management team explain that a coronavirus death in the district is first reported by the Incident Commander of a different zone either to the CEO of the SMB or the other higher officials of the department.
“The officers then would allot a slot including the timing, etc to the supervisors divided into four teams along with the manpower from the civil defence provided by the Deputy Commissioner’s office. The team handles the dead Covid patient right from the morgue of the hospital up to the burial place till everything is completed,” he said.
The SMB are responsible for the safe and dignified disposal of the dead across East Khasi Hills, except for in the areas around Sohra and Shella where trained volunteers handle the procedure. The entire service is performed free of cost to the families of the deceased.
Shadap also said that it is not uncommon for the SMB employees to go above and beyond the call of duty in assisting the families of the deceased in their hour of grief.
