People handling the dead still exposed

Health workers and police personnel who come in close contact with unidentified dead bodies for conducting autopsies and enquiries are at a high risk of Covid-19 infection.

The virus is capable of sustaining inside dead bodies for several hours and can transmit among people nearby, said virologists.

Prof Sultana Shahana Banu, head of the virology department at Dhaka Medical College, said, "Coronavirus may not spread from the upper portion of a body, but it sustains inside the body especially in nose, throat and lungs from a minimum of two hours to maximum nine days.

"So, there is a risk of infection during autopsy procedure."

She also suggested to test all the dead bodies before conducting autopsies at this time of pandemic.

Meanwhile, policemen posted at different stations, teachers of forensic departments and morgue assistants at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, and Sir Salimullah Medical College said that a sense of Covid-19 infection gripped them since the virus started spreading within communities.

Abul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, said any dead body related to a police case needed to be checked thoroughly by them. Depending on the checkups, they submitted reports to officials carrying autopsies.

"Police enquiry is now a big risk as there is a chance of coronavirus transmission through this", he added.

He also said that they dedicated two constables with protective gears to perform all police enquiries.

The law enforcers collect bodies from different spots and send those to hospitals. Police conduct enquiries in presence of relatives and otherwise on their own.

Unnatural deaths and murders are recorded as "police case" and dead bodies are handed over after autopsies. For a death inside hospital, ward boys carry dead bodies to morgue.

In both the cases, morgue assistant conduct the surgical procedures that consists of a thorough examination of the corpses by dissection in presence of a doctor of forensic medicine department.

The principal looks forward to an autopsy report to determine the cause of death, mode of death, manner of death the state of health of the person before he or she died.

Morgue assistants of the medical colleges said that now they pour antiseptic and others medicines and keep the bodies for at least three hours before conducting autopsies.

Prof AM Selim Reza, head of forensic medicine department at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, said they were conducting autopsies wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

"But it is still a risky job while conducting autopsy on dead person whose medical history is unknown. Sometimes, there is a feeling that PPEs cannot protect us fully," he added.

Khiarul Alam Dewan, assistant professor of the same department, said, "We carry out autopsies following WHO recommendations and if we suspect anyone to be infected with coronavirus we do a test before autopsy."

The hospital now conducts two to three autopsies a day, which is much lower than regular.

Prabir Biswas, lecturer of forensic medicine department at DMCH, said their air conditioning remained out of order for several years and made the autopsies even more challenging due to warm temperature.

The medical college now conducts three to four autopsies daily which is less than the usual time. The college test bodies for coronavirus only if they died at the hospital. The bodies that come from outside go unchecked.

A morgue assistant at the hospital said they were afraid of Covid-19 infection as none knew whether the bodies carried the virus.

The morgue assistant said that they could not go for isolation due to manpower shortage.

There are one morgue assistant at Suhrawardy Medical College and Salimullah Medical College each and two for Dhaka Medical College.

"Our added tension is that whether we are affecting our families or not. Family members are also worried about our work," the morgue assistance said.

Mohammad Alamgir, a staff of DMCH who caries bodies, said they had to carry the bodies from hospital establishments to morgue on trollies.

"We are afraid of coronavirus spread although we take protection," he said.

Salimullah Medical College forensic medicine teachers and staffers also expressed similar fear.

The college morgue assistant Shyamal Chandra Das demanded that like the other health workers they should be treated as frontline warrior too in the fight against coronavirus.