DEATH BURDEN
Funeral parlours fight Covid transmission to handlers
Some funeral parlours have a lot on their plate as a result of increased fatalities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the President of the Funeral Parlours Association of Botswana, Boy Mokgethi, this has allowed operators in the industry the opportunity to come up with new ideas on how to best handle bodies infected with the contagious virus in a safe manner to reduce chances of transmissions to handlers.
The Association currently represents 13 funeral homes that are members. It aims to promote and enhance professional funeral standards, ethical obligations, service to the families, compliance with laws and regulations affecting consumers and to improve and further develop services to members.
Mokgethi says compared to the normal rate of death caused by natural causes, accidents, and general illnesses, the pandemic has caused a rough increase of about 30 per cent in the number of funeral claims.
Just this week, the Presidential Covid-19 Task Force reported 48 Covid deaths in a space of three days.
Mokgethi says among the current challenges that the Association faces, is the lack of communication between the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Funeral Association. The Association also experiences shortages in the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that are pricey because of the high demand. Mokgethi adds that international repatriation of bodies has also been affected as countries do not allow repatriation of bodies diagnosed with Covid-19. “The Association has created a platform for individual small mortuaries to voice out problems they face to be communicated with relevant Ministries,” Mokgethi says. He however laments that Government has neglected the funeral industry as a whole. “They themselves are not aware of the general procedure and the funeral business,” he says. He adds that the Association has taken it upon themselves to visit countries like the US to participate in undertaker conferences where they benchmark from those ahead of them. “We would like government and relevant ministries to engage more with us as an association, as we deal directly with individual mortuaries,” Mokgethi says. Currently, there is no regulatory body, and the Association believes that such a body is important, as it would guide their operations.
Mokgethi observes an evident increase in interest of joining funeral plans as families are bombarded by mortuary expenses in cases of a sudden loss of a loved one. “There
is a huge demand in extended family plans as individuals want to ensure their loved ones are taken care of should they face these unfortunate circumstances,” Mokgethi says. According to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the Ministry has developed and published Interim IPC guidelines for safe burial of Covid-19 dead bodies to guide healthcare workers, mortuary attendants and other personnel involved in handling Covid-19 corpses to protect themselves and prevent transmission in the mortuary and other settings. “The Ministry further embarked on an exercise to train mortuary attendants on the handling of dead Covid-19 bodies and shared the developed guidelines,” Ministry spokesperson, Christopher Nyanga told
Nyanga says the Ministry further shared the guidelines with Business Botswana, as the representative for the business community who include funeral parlours. According to the Ministry, there are laws, regulations and standards that govern the way funeral parlours should conduct their business including the Public Health Act, Conveyance of Dead Bodies Act and Standards and Guidelines for Mortuaries/Forensic Act. As per World Health Organisation, Infection and Prevention Control (IPC) for the safe management of a dead body in the context of Covid-19, mortuary staff or funeral home workers preparing the body, should wear appropriate PPE, including gloves, impermeable gown or gown with impermeable apron, medical mask, eye protection and closed footwear or footwear protection.
Embalming is not recommended in order to avoid excessive manipulation of the body. However, if embalming is done, it should be performed by trained, experienced staff, following standard IPC precautions.
Nyanga says in accordance with the Botswana IPC guidelines for safe burial of Covid-19 dead bodies, procedures and protocols, funeral parlours should ensure the availability of resources for IPC measures like appropriate infrastructure. The mortuaries should also be kept clean and properly ventilated. Hand hygiene should be practised before and after each procedure, and surfaces and instruments used for the care of the dead body should be made of materials that can be easily cleaned, disinfected and maintained between autopsies. In addition, environmental surfaces, where the body is prepared, should first be cleaned with soap and water and disinfected with 0.1 per cent (1000 ppm) sodium hypochlorite (bleach) or 70 per cent ethanol for at least one minute. Mortuary trays keeping dead bodies must be cleaned and disinfected.
The Midweek Sun.