Over 200 funeral services held in mortuary since COVID-19 ban

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“The national mortuary has conducted over 200 funeral services for both Muslim and Christian families since the COVID-19 ban on public gatherings in March,” said Sinneh Kamara, the head of the COVID-19 Burial Team and manager of the National Mortuary Services. The restrictions on public meetings saw the forced-closure of all church and mosque activities, even schools. Churches and mosques were responsible for conducting funeral services for their members, but since the government-issued restrictions on all public gatherings, the private funeral homes and the National Mortuary in particular have been conducting funeral services. “We do not allow corpses to be taken to places of worship for funeral rites. Here at the National Mortuary, we do not take payment from people who use the facility. We allow for funeral services to be conducted within 30 minutes in the presence of 15 people,” Kamara said. “We are not pleased with the large number of mourners and sympathizers that gather in front of the mortuary to pay their last respects to their loved ones.” He went on to say that he had to write the Central Police station inviting them to provide security to help control the large number of people who daily use the mortuary for funeral services. “The large number of people outside obstructs traffic and they are not observing physical distancing rules. Currently we have a very good cold room to preserve corpses for a long period of time, thanks to the current Minister of Health, Dr. Alpha Wurie.” He added: “We take Le 25, 000 to register a corpse and Le 150,000 to embalm the body. We do not receive payment for funeral services as this is a national facility that provides free quality services to the population.” Speaking on challenges, he pointed to limited transportation to convey bodies to the cemetery. “We have only two operational hearses and the number of destitute that are dying is on the rise putting strain on our already limited existing resources.” For her part, Isha Sesay, who was present at a funeral service at the Mortuary yesterday, said she hopes that the COVID-19 restriction on church services will be lifted soon so people can start taking their loved ones to church before burial. Alpha Bah, a sympathizer at a Muslim funeral, concurred. “it is very inconvenient to come here for funeral services when the person who died is staying very far away.”

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