Gov't urged to implement legislation regulating funeral homes

 

A funeral director is calling for the government to establish the Public Health Funeral Establishment and Mortuary Operations Regulations that would enable the monitoring of the industry, which he says is rife with corruption.

 

His call comes six years after Health Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton promised the regulations to allow for the licensing of facilities as well as ensure accountability and adherence to international best practices. 

 

At the time, the health minister warned that the self-regulated industry could lead to several issues if it continued without industry standards to abide by. 

 

But years later and with the legislation yet to be implemented, funeral director Paul Patmore says the self-regulation of the industry is adding to the crime problem by creating loopholes for criminals to dispose of bodies without a trace.

 

"A person can collect a money and hide a body underneath a body and send it and... they would search from now until thy kingdom come and they can never find anything; there is no trace," he revealed. 

 

"All that undertaker would have to do is wait until they are doing a funeral, they just rest that body underneath, use that body as a cushion for another body and just send off that to a funeral," Mr. Patmore explained. 

 

The funeral home director and owner of Patmore's Funeral Home, who was speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Wednesday morning, said in other cases, the less established or "suitcase" funeral homes come for bodies in unmarked vehicles and sometimes even taxis. 

 

They take bodies from government-contracted funeral homes, with the approval of the deceased's family, and promise to carry out private post mortems. But according to Mr. Patmore, the unscrupulous funeral homes will instead "find a doctor to cut the body somewhere or even just write a certificate that they [have seen] the body".

 

Mr. Patmore called for regulations in the industry to finally come onboard to help address some of the issues, stressing that if the country is serious about fighting crime, this avenue cannot be overlooked. 

 

The Ministry of Health created guidelines in August 2014 for the operation of funeral establishments and mortuaries. It said the guidelines were intended to mirror the Public Health Funeral Establishment and Mortuary Operations and Regulations, which was being reviewed by Cabinet.