Hyderabad NGO conducts final rites of COVID-19 patients if family refuses

Youth welfare Telangana, an NGO in Hyderabad has taken up the task of performing final rites of COVID-19 dead bodies after family members refuse to accept them.

Youth welfare Telangana, an NGO in Hyderabad has taken up the task of performing final rites of COVID-19 dead bodies after family members refuse to accept them. Syed Jalaluddin Zafar, founder and president of Youth Welfare Telangana, told ANI that his NGO is involved in social welfare work amid the coronavirus pandemic since the lockdown started, but the journey of performing final rites of COVID-19 dead bodies started after the death of his friend's father.

"As COVID-19 cases are on a surge, there is also an increase in the death toll. When my friend's father died, he left his dead body and went away without performing the final rites suspecting that his father had COVID-19," he said. Zafar said that when he came to know about the incident, he felt bad and his NGO performed the final rites of his friend's father.

"Since then we decided to this as a service. We are performing final rites of claimed bodies, and if a 'No Objection Certificate' is granted, then of unclaimed bodies as well, irrespective of caste or religion," he said. According to Zafar, he along with his NGO has performed final rites of 147 people, which include 14 Hindus, one Christian and Sikh each, and remaining Muslim dead bodies.

"Our team includes 50 people in Hyderabad, 30 people in Tandur, and five each in Adilabad and Mahbubnagar," he said. (ANI)

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