More ovens to quickly cremate Covid-19 patients’ remains

More ovens to quickly cremate Covid-19 patients’ remains

Cremations to be done three times a day in Klang as bodies pile up at mortuaries, says Amirudin Shari.

A cremation of a deceased Covid-19 patient in progress in Kuala Lumpur. More ovens will be used to clear the bodies that are now being stored at mortuaries in Selangor. (Bernama pic)
SHAH ALAM:
Two cremation ovens will be added in Selangor soon, for speedier cremation of the remains of non-Muslim Covid-19 victims in the state.

Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said currently, only one out of the three cremation ovens under the auspices of the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) could be used for cremation services.

“This is one of our efforts to expedite the cremation process in a cost-effective manner.

“The cremation services at the local authority’s crematorium will be carried out with the help of non-governmental organisations,” he said.

Amirudin Shari.

Meanwhile, Amirudin said burials and cremations of Covid-19 patients’ bodies are expected to be carried out three times a day following the recent announcement on the centralised management of Covid-19 victims’ remains initiative.

“We will arrange for the cremation services to be carried out in the morning, afternoon and evening in an effort to reduce the number of Covid-19 patients’ remains at mortuaries in Selangor,” he said.

Funeral arrangements of Covid-19 patients in the state take place once or twice a day, depending on the number of bodies at hospital mortuaries.

So far, more than 20 remains of Covid-19 patients, including non-citizens, have been buried through the centralised management initiative.

On the two cemeteries that have been selected for the intitiave, Amirudin said so far, the Section 21 Muslim Cemetery here and the Selat Klang Muslim Cemetery in Port Klang still have about 3.64 hectares of unused land for burials of Covid-19 patients.

Amirudin announced on July 17 the Covid-19 centralised funeral arrangement initiative which aims to reduce the time taken to manage the remains of patients and ease congestion at several hospitals in Selangor.

He said the initiative would involve the funeral arrangements of Muslim and non-Muslim Covid-19 patients at the Shah Alam Hospital, Sungai Buloh Hospital and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, Klang.

Amirudin said the state government had also contacted the foreign ministry in an effort to speed up identifying the remains of foreign nationals who died from Covid-19 at the three hospitals.

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