Delhi airport on Friday forced the return of three Indians’ bodies flown in from the UAE, refusing to offload them because of what officials claimed was a “miscommunication” over a home ministry note.
However, details of the incident as revealed by sources suggest it had also to do with officials’ fear of taking responsibility and tendency to play safe.
All the three expats, two from Punjab and one from Uttarakhand, had died of non-Covid causes, as the no-objection certificates (NOCs) issued by the Indian embassy in the UAE made clear.
These NOCs were — and remain — the sole requirement for the repatriation of the bodies of those who die from diseases other than Covid-19.
However, on Friday morning, bureau of immigration officials refused to offload the bodies of Kamlesh Bhatt, Sanjeev Kumar and Jagsir Singh after their arrival on an Etihad Airlines cargo plane.
They said a further NOC would be required from the home ministry, apart from the one issued by the embassy on behalf of the external affairs ministry.
Sources said what had happened was that the home ministry had on Thursday sent an internal note to the immigration authorities saying it was preparing a new protocol for the repatriation of bodies of Covid-19 patients.
The note suggested that NOCs from both the home and foreign ministries would be required to receive the bodies of patients who died of Covid-19.
“This led to confusion and miscommunication that the ministry was about to overhaul the entire process for the repatriation of all bodies, including those who died of non-Covid reasons,” a ministry official said.
He, however, conceded that the note referred only to bodies of patients killed by Covid-19.
Ironically, what the note was alerting the immigration officials about was an imminent relaxation and not tightening of rules, for the bodies of coronavirus-positive expats were not being received at all till then.
The new rules were formally promulgated on Saturday evening and left the protocol for the repatriation of non-Covid bodies untouched.
On Friday, the bereaved family members who had come to the airport to receive the bodies had repeatedly cited the NOC from the embassy but were ignored, sources said. The bodies were sent back to the UAE.
On Saturday, the Indian ambassador to the UAE, Pawan Kapoor, was quoted by Gulf News as saying he was “appalled at what has happened”.
“We do not know if the bodies were returned because of coronavirus-related restrictions, but we are obviously not sending the remains of people who have passed away from Covid-19,” he said, alluding to the then existing protocol.
“As we understand, it happened because of new protocols at their airport and we are trying to sort it out.”
The three bodies were again flown in on Monday and handed over to the families.
“It was only after fresh orders from the home ministry that the procedures were carried out for the bodies to be sent back and handed over this morning to the relatives,” an airport official said.
The new protocol recommends that “human remains” of “confirmed/suspected” Covid-19 patients not be repatriated to India.
But if they have to be flown in, it says, the ministry NOC would hinge on whether the bodies are accompanied with several necessary documents. The airline must submit these documents, for verification by the airport health officer (APHO) at the Indian end, at least 48 hours before the body arrives. The documents are:
⚫ A death certificate mentioning the cause of death as confirmed or suspected Covid -19.
⚫ An NOC from the Indian mission concerned for transport of the body to India.
⚫ An embalming certificate issued by an authorised agency, a cancelled copy of the passport of the deceased, and a certificate that the body has been packaged in keeping with WHO guidelines and the Indian Aircraft Rules 1954.