KLANG – The Selangor government contacted the Foreign Ministry yesterday in an effort to speed up the identification of the remains of foreign nationals who died from Covid-19 at three hospitals in the state.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the remains of Covid-19 victims were not being managed quickly, especially at Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang, Shah Alam Hospital, and Sg Buloh Hospital.
“Yesterday, I contacted the Foreign Ministry and its minister on the matter. They will try to resolve the issue.
“This is because the remains of some the foreign nationals need to be confirmed by the relevant high commissions/embassies.
“We will try to speed up the process as (some of the remains) could take one week or even up to a month to be identified.
“They have to be kept in the mortuary before identification can be made for the burial process,” he told reporters after observing the Covid-19 vaccination programme here today.
Amirudin said the state government was also making arrangements for hearses with the local authorities to speed up the removal of bodies from hospital mortuaries.
Yesterday, he announced the Centralised Management of Covid-19 Victims’ Remains initiative, an effort by the state government to shorten the process and lessen the number of remains at a number of hospitals in Selangor.
Amirudin had said in a statement that the initiative would involve the managing of the remains of Covid-19 victims, whether Muslims or non-Muslims, at the three hospitals.
He added that for this initiative, the Muslim burial grounds at Seksyen 21 in Shah Alam and Selat Klang in Port Klang had been chosen, while non-Muslims would have their burial or cremation referred to the local authorities. – Bernama, July 18, 2021
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