Living in DMC mortuary for 3 months to keep his family safe
His workplace and home are 150 yards apart, a distance that takes no more than five minutes to cover.
Yet for Sikandar Ali, mortuary assistant at Dhaka Medical College, home has been the mortuary of Dhaka Medical College since mid-March.
He has not been going home to protect his family from being exposed to coronavirus.
"Sometimes I feel an intense urge to see my little grandchildren but I remind myself I should not be the source of infection for my family members," Sikandar said.
To prevent his family from getting exposed to coronavirus, Sikandar has been living in a room at the mortuary for the last three months, sometimes enduring the acrid smell of decomposing bodies.
Sikandar is well aware of the risks at his job. He knows he could be infected anytime, as he examines corpses sent from different parts of the country or while talking to relatives of the deceased.
The protective gear given to Sikandar and his colleagues are not nearly adequate enough. They have to reuse them after a wash, increasing the risk of the infection, some staff members have also opined.
"My wife is a cardiac patient. Her heart valve was replaced seven years ago during an open-heart surgery. Apart from this there are also four kids in my house," he said.
Just opposite DMCH's entrance, close to its new building, Sikandar's wife, a son, two daughters and four grandchildren live. "Whenever I talk to them, my grandchildren ask me why I don't come home."
His family members make him meal packets and leave it near the door after receiving a call from Sikandar. A man has been tasked with bringing them to Sikandar every day.
"I can go and collect the food from the door. But if my grandchildren somehow end up seeing me, they will definitely rush towards me and I won't be able to keep them away," Sikandar said.
Sikandar has spent most of the last four decades in close proximity to dead bodies, ever since he was a student of class eight. He was appointed as morgue assistant at the age of 18.
He has assisted in autopsies on thousands of bodies at the Forensic Medicine Department at DMC.
Blood, gore and mutilated bodies do not scare him. But this pandemic has gotten the better of Sikandar and he eagerly awaits the day when he can reunite with his family.
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