In a heart-rending incident, a doctor from Nellore who was tested positive for corona virus on Monday died in Chennai. This is the first incident in which a doctor from Andhra Pradesh died of corona virus. If the death of the doctor while treating corona patients was not tragic enough, the way the Tamil Naidu authorities handled the death was at once pathetic and inhumane.

The orthopedic doctor from Nellore was treating corona virus patients in Chennai and apparently contracted the virus. He was tested positive for the infection and was admitted in Apollo Hospital but died while undergoing the treatment. The doctor was being treated in Apollo Hospital for last five days. The doctor had recently opened a new hospital and also treated a patient who returned from Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering in South Delhi’s Nizamuddin.

Controversy erupted over the cremation of the doctor with the authorities in Tamil Nadu refusing to send the body to Nellore. The hospital authorities tried to cremate the body in one of crematorium in Ambattur, but the management of the crematorium was reluctant to allow the cremation of the body until the municipal health officials arrive. The body was left unattended at Ambattur crematorium. Locals protested after seeing that a body was dumped near the Ambattur crematorium at around 2 pmt. Later, the officials concerned were alerted about the body lying near the crematorium.

Meanwhile, the doctor’s family in Nellore was shifted to isolation ward in a government hospital as a precautionary measure. His pediatrician wife is also coronavirus positive and undergoing treatment.