48-hour notice to repatriate bodies to India 'impractical'

The Indian Embassy and social activists have termed as 'impractical' a circular issued by an officer at the Calicut Airport seeking a 48-hour notice on repatriation of dead bodies from Gulf countries.

Confusion reigned at the Sharjah International Airport as Calicut International Airport health officer Dr Jalaludheen had shot a circular to airline operators asking them to follow standard operating procedures while repatriating bodies to the Kerala airport.

However, following the outcry, Jalaludheen has requested all airline firms not to block any dead bodies.

The procedure mentioned in the circular follow the International Health Rule 2005 and Indian Aircraft Public Health Rule 1954, which mandated producing death certificate, embalming certificate, NOC from the Indian High Commission of the concerned country and cancelling copy of passport, all of this to airport health officer 48 hours prior to arrival of dead body.

Embassy First Secretary (Community Affairs) Dinesh Kumar said there was no information on any recent rule change in the procedures to follow for repatriation from the Indian government.

"The 48-hour notice sought by Calicut Airport health officer is practically not possible," Kumar said.

A social activist said the Calicut airport officer is oblivious to hardships faced by expats, especially in time of transporting dead bodies.

"This is an unfortunate incident. The Calicut airport official is ignorant of the lengthy procedures that we follow to send a body back to India. Jalaludheen should be send to any of the Gulf States to see how we rush a body to airport after embalming. If embalming certificate needs to be furnished 48 hours before arrival of body to India, it means a delay of 2-3 days," Vidhyadharan Ereuthinad said.

Another social activist said the entire incident was an unnecessary issue.
"It was a laughable decision taken by officer at Calicut airport. Thankfully it was send only to Sharjah Airport. The rules mentioned aren't possible to follow. The rules aren't anything new but why he circulated such a notice now is beyond comprehension," social activist MM Nasar Kanhangad said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to the federal government seeking withdrawal of the particular norm.

Facing heat over the incident from the state government, Jalaludheen told local media in Kerala that he has notified airlines not to block dead bodies and only pass on information before repatriation.

"The circular was meant to prevent possible entry of infectious diseases to Kerala. It wasn't intended to create difficulties," said Jalaludheen referring to the sections in the circular which stated that if it's not possible to mention the exact cause of death because of unavoidable reasons, then in such situations the health department of concerned country may issue a certificate saying "the person has not died because of the infectious/communicable/notifiable disease of international health concern".

There was another rule too which said if the cause of death is mentioned as cardio-respiratory arrest or natural death or pending or to be ascertained after post-mortem then such death certificates will be invalid.

After the outcry, Jalaludheen said: "The 48-hour notice isn't mandatory but conveying prior information to airport would be enough."

Kerala media has reported that blocked dead bodies have finally started reaching Calicut Airport on Monday morning and rest was set to reach on Tuesday.

Source: Khaleej Times