SHAH ALAM – Two crematoriums will be added in Selangor soon, for speedier cremation of the remains of non-Muslim Covid-19 victims in the state.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said currently, only one out of the three crematoriums under the auspices of the Klang Municipal Council could be used for cremation services.
“This is one of our efforts to expedite the cremation process in a cost-effective manner.
“Cremation services at the local authority’s crematorium will be carried out with the help of non-governmental organisations,” he said.
Meanwhile, Amirudin said burials and cremations of Covid-19 patients’ bodies are expected to be carried out three times a day following the recent announcement on the Centralised Management of Covid-19 Victims’ Remains initiative.
“We will arrange for cremation services to be carried out in the morning, afternoon, and evening in an effort to lessen the number of Covid-19 patients’ remains at hospital mortuaries in Selangor,” he said.
Funeral arrangements of Covid-19 patients in the state take place once to twice a day, depending on the number of bodies at hospital mortuaries.
So far, more than 20 remains of Covid-19 patients, including non-citizens, have been buried through the initiative.
On the two cemeteries selected for the intitiave, Amirudin said that so far, the Section 21 Muslim cemetery here and Selat Klang Muslim cemetery in Port Klang still have about 3.64ha of unused land for burials of Covid-19 patients.
On Saturday, Amirudin announced the Covid-19 Centralised Funeral Arrangement initiative, which aims to reduce the time taken to manage the remains of patients and ease congestion at several hospitals in Selangor.
He said the initiative would involve the funeral arrangements of Muslim and non-Muslim Covid-19 patients at Shah Alam Hospital, Sg Buloh Hospital, and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang.
Amirudin said the state government had also contacted the Foreign Ministry in an effort to speed up identifying the remains of foreign nationals who died from Covid-19 at the three hospitals. – Bernama, July 19, 2021
