Only one funeral home equipped to store decomposed bodies

Oct 31, 2019 News

– Parlours need separate compartments to store remains

Funeral homes across Guyana will be required to have a different unit in their mortuary to house decomposed bodies, according to the Central Board of Health.
The information was disclosed yesterday at the Ministry of Public Health’s Funeral Home Training exercise for both private and public mortuary operators. It was held at the Grand Costal Hotel, Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara.
To date, of the 14 privately owned funeral parlours in Guyana, only the Lyken Funeral home is authorised to store such bodies.
A representative from Lyken’s disclosed that the parlour does not have a different compartment but utilises metal canisters specially designed to hold the remains.
Chairman of the Board, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, stated that the health risks are greater when dealing with human remains that are in advanced stages of decomposition.
“Mostly, these bodies are discovered by police, sometimes out in the open, and some are in such terrible states. The smell alone is detrimental to the undertakers so parlours need to have a separate space to store them whether it be another freezer or another compartment.”
According to Persaud, the issue of cross contamination is still rampant in the minds of thousands and since they are paying for a service, their loved ones’ remains should be kept safe.
“This is the last phase, a very sensitive part of life and relatives have had issues with the way the body is prepared and the smell and such, so we need to ensure the overall safety of the workers and relatives as well.”
Further, if the facilities do not meet the regulations as prescribed by the Public Health Ministry and Environmental Health Department, or they do not pass the annual inspections, the parlours can be shut down and their licence revoked.

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