Cremation or Burial – Expert committee report handed over
Posted on December 29th, 2020
Courtesy Hiru News
Prof. Jennifer Perera, the Chairman of the expert committee appointed to determine the course of action to be taken regarding the corpses of people who have died due to coronavirus infection, has submitted its report to the Ministry of Health.
Steps were taken to appoint a new nine-member expert committee to give an opinion on whether the bodies of those who died after being infected with the virus should be cremated or buried.
The report of the expert committee chaired by Prof. Jennifer Perera was handed over to the Ministry of Health yesterday afternoon.<br /><br />Hiru news team was informed that the decision of the report of the expert committee has been an unanimous decision regarding the course of action to be taken regarding the dead bodies.
Although we have tried on several occasions to contact the Secretary to the Ministry of Health to inquire into the submission of this committee report to the Ministry of Health, it has been unsuccessful and the statement from his office is that the Secretary is attending meetings.
However, an expert committee had previously been appointed to decide on the course of action to be taken regarding the corpses of those who died due to corona and the committee recommended cremation.
A protest was held in Matale today with the participation of monks and residents of the area to protest against the burial of corona infected bodies.
Meanwhile, a resident of the Kaluwella area in Galle who was admitted to the Kalubowila Hospital died on November 30. A subsequent PCR test was carried out. The test revealed that he was infected with the corona virus.
Athula Kotugoda, the coroner of the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital, told the Hiru news team that the relatives of the deceased had refused to identify the body, saying that they would not accept the body if it was not provided for burial.
Police have reported the matter to the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court and the court has ordered that the body to be cremated after being identified by relatives.
The wife and brother of the deceased have even refused to identify the body since it has to be cremated.
As a result, the body has been placed at the morgue since November 30.
However, according to a gazette notification issued by the government on 11/04/2020, these must be cremated within 24 hours.
December 29th, 2020 at 6:37 pm
It is now doubtful if this is that A-Team that defeated the LTTE. Surely the those who led the fight against the LTTE are made of sterner stuff and with ability to take difficult decisions when required. The decisions on the Covid-19 burials is a clear case for the health authorities, virologists, geologists and similar professionals alone and clearly not for the politicians to decide on. All they have to do is to give the findings the strength of the Law. What is at stake is the health security of the nation and it must not be confused with the survival of the politicians. Let us see the findings of the new committee on Covid-19 burials have to say and if they are different to those of the previous committee recommendations the reasons for such differment!
People have given the current administration a clear mandate in Feb 2018, Nov 2019 and later in Aug 2020. What more approval does this administration want get on with the business of governing? The way so many issues that have sprung so far and how they are handled including simple things like fixing price of rice or coconuts show that the current administration is vaccilating and failing. One year has gone and the honeymoon is definitely over. Everyday it is becoming more than obvious that the government is running around like ‘ a headless chook’!
The current administration seems to stuck between rock and a hard place not able to price itself out! The 69 lakhs of voters mainly Sinhalese are looking askance if this is the ‘change’ they voted for? They feel dejected, unappreciated and devalued in the face of minorities getting back on the driving seat. The Maha Sangha – the majority of whom took upon themselves to bring Pohottuwa to power – are being reviled and made under valued in the face of newly found minority friends. Abhayaramaya where the Mahinda Sulanga gave birth is a much devalued memory of yesteryear. If not for Covid-19 Mahinda Sulanga would have visited the Vatican a couple of time by now!
For 70 years the majority in Sri Lanka had to eat humble pie because it was the minorities – the tail that was wagging the dog. This time the people threw both the UNP and the SLFP to the dust bin and voted for a new party – Pohottuwa in the hope that the nation would be governed sensibly without giving into the minority Shylocks asking for the ‘exact pound of flesh’.
It is time the President took the people to his confidence and address the nation regularly, fairly and honestly without falling prey to the Shylocks and other vermin who have crept into the administration behind the back of the people! The President can easliy tell the people the truth about the economy and what he wants from the people. The people of Sri Lanka need a leader who can lead from the front, out in the open and not from board rooms surrounded by yeasayers!