Help us reduce funeral costs, Hindu association asks ministry

 

The coffins have to be wrapped and sanitised before being taken to the crematorium and the families also have to pay for PPEs worn by the casket company employees. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A Hindu association is calling on the health ministry to help reduce the funeral costs for those who succumbed to Covid-19, saying families from the lower income group are finding it too expensive.

In a letter to health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the Malaysia Hindu Sangam said Hindus who died from the virus need to be placed in a coffin which is wrapped and sanitised before being ferried to the crematorium.

Undertakers tend to charge very high rates, some up to RM5,000, its president RS Mohan Shan said.

He said the normal cost should hover around RM2,500 to RM2,800, with the average coffins priced at RM500. Transport costs come to RM500, while cremating a body at a government-operated crematorium costs between RM100 and RM200.

President of Malaysian Hindu Sangam RS Mohan Shan.

The grieving families, he said, are also charged RM200 for the personal protective equipment worn by the two employees of the casket companies.

“Families from the lower income group and those who lose more than one family member are not able to afford it,” he said in a statement.

Mohan Shan went on to suggest that the association be roped in to help the Hindu community purchase the coffins and for the remains to be shuttled to the crematorium managed by a local council in the ministry’s van.

He said such a practice was being done for Muslims.

“Such measures will help reduce the financial burden faced by the Hindu community and prevent coffin makers from taking advantage by increasing the prices.”

The association, he added, was also seeking approval for cremations of those who died of Covid-19 to be done openly to cut cost and waiting time at crematoriums. - FMT