$200m to be pumped into maintenance of public cemeteries
PUBLIC CEMETERIES which fall under the management of the islands’s municipalities are set to benefit from a $200-million maintenance programme.
The announcement came from Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and community development, as he addressed last Thursday’s swearing in of Trelawny’s nine councillors.
“On many occasions I get a request for the closure of some public cemeteries. My response has always been trying to find out how much maintenance work is done. In most cases there is very little. I next ask for an alternative to closing of the cemetery. Our checks revealed that if maintenance and debushing is done then many more spaces can be found, hence the decision to provide funds for maintenance, ”McKenzie said.
Mausoleum burial is choice for the future, according to Paul Patmore, operator of Patmore’s Funeral Home.
“I will say mausoleum burial is the way to go. The space it takes to bury one body in a cemetery could bury six in a mausoleum. It saves space, it does not interfere with underground water supply,” Patmore posited.
The funeral home director is also suggesting that funeral homes be registered and are charged a fee which municipalities can use to maintain cemeteries.
“There are more than 250 funeral homes in Jamaica and no regulation governing their operations. Contrast this with a man selling a drink of rum. He needs a licence but a funeral home which handles hundreds of bodies each year does not need a licence. It defies logic,” Patmore said
Garth Wilkinson is the councillor for the Falmouth division. He supports the idea of licensing funeral homes.
“I have a resolution which was tabled in the last corporation. It seeks to have funeral homes become regulated. That will bring in funds which will be available for maintenance work in cemeteries. Right now you put a sign on a breadfruit tree in your backyard, buy a freezer, start storing bodies and you have a funeral home. The time has come for funeral homes to be regulated,” Wilkinson said.