‘Not standard procedure’ – Health Minister apologises after father fetched child to burial ground

After photographs surfaced on Facebook that a man in Region One (Barima- Waini) fetched his dead child from the Mabaruma hospital to the burial ground, Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony says an investigation has been launched.

“This is not a standard procedure,” Dr. Anthony lamented during his daily COVID-19 update on Monday.

The child died last week. According to the Health Minister, after the child’s death, the standard procedure would have been to take the child’s body to the hospital’s mortuary before officially handing it over to the family for burial.

Then, the family should have been able to access a vehicle that operates between the police and the Ministry of Health. But there appears to have been some “mix-up” and Dr. Anthony said that the vehicle was not made available to the family in a timely manner.

“Somebody ought to have assisted the family in getting the body to the cemetery or to the site of burial,” the Health Minister emphasised.

Because that did not happen, he apologised on behalf of the Ministry of Health. Importantly, he said that he has tasked the regional health authorities with investigating the matter to ensure that there is no recurrence.

The News Room was informed earlier that the ministry was made aware of the issue on Saturday. Reports on the incident surfaced on Friday.