ABSTRACT
With the coming of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ‘meaning of death’ around the world has changed. This chapter reflects on how the non-performance of certain essential death rituals like cleansing of the body or getting together with the extended family to mourn can have a psychological impact on the bereaved. It brings out issues around death and grief in the COVID-19 pandemic especially with respect to the religion-specific death rituals and the stigma attached to the COVID dead bodies. The chapter builds discussion on the handling of COVID-19 dead bodies and questions the concept of ‘dignity in death’ in the Indian context. From a public health perspective, it argues that concept of death, dying and grief should be housed within clinical and institutional contexts. Health care providers (including mental healthcare providers) should consider important aspects of grief related to the pandemic. It discusses key practices of advance care planning, quality communication, and healthcare provider self-care to facilitate dignity-conserving care amid this and any future pandemic. The need to normalise conversations about death and dying by promoting death literacy and dialogue in public spaces to enhance the potential of creating the compassionate communities is emphasised, too.
