New Delhi: He was known as much for his large-heartedness as for founding one of Shillong’s best known private hospitals – the Bethany Hospital.

However, on April 15, when the 69-year-old doctor breathed his last at Bethany Hospital, his family had to wait for at least 36 hours to find a burial ground for him in the city that he had served his whole life.

The reason was panic. The doctor had died of COVID-19. Hundreds of people in two areas of the city outskirts blocked the streets to disallow his body from getting buried in their areas, fearing the spread of the disease.

On April 13, a day after Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma led the people in Easter Sunday prayers for the nation passing through the challenge of taming COVID-19 – through a successful social media campaign, disaster had hit the north-eastern state. The doctor became the first patient to be COVID-19 positive in the state.

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By April 14, eight more persons, including a child, from the doctor’s family and team of helpers, tested positive. A wave of panic swept through the state, leading to hundreds to report to the state authorities about visiting the hospital in the last few weeks. It led the state government to start conducting tests on those he had come in contact with.

Though the doctor didn’t have any travel history, his son-in-law, a pilot, had visited the United States in March. It led many to suspect that the doctor might have contracted coronavirus from him. However, the son-in-law has since tested negative twice, leading the government to go on a search for the source of the virus. It has not been established yet.

In the early hours of April 15, the doctor passed away at Bethany hospital.

News reports from Shillong said residents of Jhalupara, Mawbah and Shillong Cantonment areas, aside from the Dorbar Shnong of Nongpoh Proper, denied permission for the doctor’s funeral in their respective areas.

“A large number of residents came out in Jhalupara and Mawbah on Wednesday evening (April 15) following reports that the remains of the COVID-19 patient were being taken to the electric crematorium there for the last rites,” said a news report in the Shillong Times.

The report said, “Around 200-300 residents blocked the road leading to the crematorium while opposing the plan to conduct the last rites there, fearing it could pose health hazard in the overcrowded localities”.

With the situation getting out of control, policemen and magistrates “were deployed in the area”.

According to his family members, the doctor had wished to be buried at his farm house in Nongpoh. When his son got in touch with the Nongpoh Dorbar Shnong, the local administrating body, it refused to give permission to the family to bring his body to the area, even though it was to be his last journey to his own home. Silvester Mynsong, a Dorbar member, said the decision was taken because the local residents “were panicky” and that he had “received several calls from the villagers requesting not to allow the burial at Nongpoh as they feared the disease might spread in the area”.

Ironically, the doctor had set up the Bethany Hospital Outreach at Nongpoh in order to provide better healthcare to the people of the areas. The Shillong Times report said he also gave employment to “many local youths in the hospital”.

With his immediate family members under quarantine, it fell on the state administration to handle the situation. The administration, thereafter, contacted some churches to allow him a decent funeral and a burial ground within their premises. Finally, Riatsamthiah Presbyterian Church cemetery at Lawmali allowed his body to be laid to rest on April 16 morning. Chief minister Sangma took to Twitter to put out photos of his burial and at the same time reminding those who opposed his burial that “kindness is the need of the hour”.

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When the doctor was finally buried, three members from his extended family were reportedly by his side. MLA P.T. Swakmie thanked Reverend Lyndan Syiem and the members of the church for conducting the funeral service. “The church has shown true spirit of Christianity by extending a helping hand to the bereaved family,” he reportedly said.

A ‘misadventure’

Meanwhile, on April 16, the Meghalaya high court took objection to the public opposition to the doctor’s burial and “warned” against such actions. The HC was hearing a PIL filed by the Meghalaya Bar Association due to the confusion over the doctor’s burial besides seeking a directive to the state government on the need for effective monitoring of the situation to contain the spread of the virus.

Reacting to the incident, former state home minister Robert G. Lyngdoh called it a “misadventure” of the state government. He said in a Facebook post, “If a renowned doctor like him had to go through so much for a decent burial, I fear to think what would have happened if the victim would have been an ordinary citizen.”

Meanwhile, as per latest report from the state, two more persons have tested positive from the doctor’s family, taking the number of positive cases in the state to seven. The chief minister on Twitter stated that 552 persons were tested in the state out of which 306 results have been declared. “299 (persons so far) have tested negative. We currently await 246 test results.”