- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Pramod Kumar
INDIAN man dubbed the ‘corona warrior’ as he had cremated 1,300 Covid victims died from the virus after he was unable to get treatment and a bed in hospital.
Chandan Nimje, 67, volunteered to cremate hundreds of Covid victims’ bodies during the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.
He was congratulated by Nagpur’s mayor for risking his life to perform the last rites for the hundreds of pandemic victims.
Nimje, a retired government official, worked with volunteers when family members refused to go near the bodies of their loved ones who had succumbed to the virus.
After over a year of cremations, Nimje finally caught the virus and struggled to get a hospital bed and a Tocilizumab injection, reports said.
His family were forced to fork out for a private hospital, spending all their savings, but they were still unable to save Nimje who died on May 26, The Times of India reported.
“We approached everyone, not only for financial help, but also for a bed and medicines, but none responded,” said Arvind Rataudi, who worked closely with Nimje.
“We approached Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) commissioner, collector and other top officials, but no one helped the person who went out of the way to provide dignity in death to over 1,300 citizens.”
After his retirement, Nimje joined Rataudi’s King Cobra Youth Force (KCYF), an organisation which helps Covid victims set up in March last year.
He is believed to have contracted the virus when he went for his first dose of the vaccine and later suffered a mild fever before his sister, two sons and wife all started showing symptoms.
All five tested positive and Nimje’s health started to deteriorate as volunteers started to search for a hospital bed.
But Nimje’s condition deteriorated before his death on May 26. His fellow volunteers and family members performed his cremation, the report said.
