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I am an underpaid attendant of the dead
Jan 10, 2016 Letters
Dear Editor,
Please publish this letter with the use of my name. The work load is too much for me to endure as the lone porter presently employed at the Suddie Hospital mortuary and the Regional Administration needs to take positive action to bring about relief to my predicament. I can’t do better because of the difficult situation to secure permanent employment in the region. Advantage is being taken on me to work round the clock for 24 hours per day while receiving payment for just an eight hour period.
With much dedication and by living nearby contact is being made with me at any time to provide a service which includes the cleaning of the parlour, stitching after postmortem examination, pick up dead, be it day or night to put in the freezer and to remove the bodies at the request of families.
Even at times, I would be called upon to bathe and dress the dead with the money paid for doing so going to the parlour. Only the other day, a dead fell out of my hands while under strain to remove the body from one point to the another. This is a clear indication that I alone cannot do the job with more hands being needed and urgently too for the dead to be properly taken care of at all times.
Bad management coupled with deplorable working conditions are responsible for a lot of employees quitting employment there but though willing to stay on, improvements would be necessary and not to burden me for me to suffer so much and for so long.
To add insult to injury, the supervisor who drives the hearse is in the habit of going from an abuse of privilege to abuse and curse me for no justifiable reason.
Lincoln K. Rambarran
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