Freeport mega-storage facility to keep covid19 bodies

 - File photo/Angelo Marcelle
- File photo/Angelo Marcelle

The Health Ministry has partnered with funeral homes to have a mega storage facility for covid fatalities in Freeport.

On Saturday, Chief Medical |Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said it has become necessary to get a bigger facility as covid19 bodies build up in morgues.

"We are looking to establish a mass site for storage in the Freeport area which should be coming on stream shortly, and additional sites within different funeral agencies for storage. That is being led through the Ministry of Health, the chief public health inspector as well as the director veterinary public health," Parasram said.

"It is a necessary step, as the Prime Minister has said, and a step that we have been putting off from the Ministry of Health as long as we could."

The CMO spoke at the Prime Minister’s press conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's.

He, however, did not give an address for the facility or when the facility would become operational.

Parasram said the facility would be large but did not give any details. He added that stakeholders are in the process of doing a memorandum of understanding on the issue.

"I do not want to say too much until that MOU is completed," he said.

He said he will give details once the MOU has been completed and signed.

"It (facility) is not a cost to the state as far as I am aware at this point in time," he said.

On Saturday evening, the total death toll stood at 2,560, with 33 more deaths reported between Friday and Saturday.

The president Association of Funeral Home Professionals of TT Keith Belgrove said the facility would be able to relieve the pressures on the regional health authorities and funeral homes across the country.

Despite the increase in covid19 deaths, Belgrove believes that once the bodies are disposed of quickly, the funeral industry would be able to handle the storage of new cases.

"Funeral services are not overwhelmed. We have enough cremation capacity by modern crematorium in the country to handle what is happening. What is happening is a lot of times, people are in quarantine and we have to wait (to do the funeral service). That is triggering the build-up," Belgrove said.

"But there is enough cremation capacity to handle the demand. So the build-up is really a demand for refrigeration space. As we take care of that demand, the pressure is over. But there will still be a heavy demand for cremations because of the build-up."

Belgrove said it would take time to eliminate the build-up.

"When that is done, only then does the situation work itself out."

The government does not allow open-air cremation for covid19 victims.

Asked if there are costs for storage, Belgrove said he could not say.

"But, there is a charge by most funeral homes and it varies from funeral homes to funeral homes," he said without giving figures.

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