In a unique incident, Bhubaneshwar resident Madhusmita Prusty has been helping her husband cremate unclaimed COVID-19 bodies in the Odisha capital. Prusty, who used to work at Kolkata's Fortis hospital, returned to Bhubaneshwar in 2019 and has been cremating dead bodies for over 2.5 years.
"Nursed patients for 9 yrs. Returned here in 2019 to assist my husband in performing abandoned bodies' last rites," she said.
I performed last rites of 500 bodies in 2.5 years & over 300 Covid bodies last year in Bhubaneswar.
Being a woman, I was criticised for doing so but I continued working under a trust run by my husband, aid Madhusmita Prusty, who quit nursing job to cremate unclaimed bodies in Odisha. Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Prusty said that she was heavily criticised, but continued to work with her husband who runs a charitable trust.
Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 6,92,382 on Sunday as the state reported its highest single-day spike of 12,852 new cases, despite undergoing lockdown for more than two weeks, a health department official said.