Saying the final goodbye – digitally

 

One next of kin wearing a PPE is allowed to perform the identification process through the facility provided, says Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi, and it helps them bear with the grief. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The grief of losing a family member, especially to Covid-19, can be immeasurable. And it only gets worse when one is unable to even bid the loved one a final goodbye up close.

Aware of the grief and emotional burden borne by the family of the deceased, the Kuala Lumpur temporary one-stop centre (Pusara WPKL) and the National Sports Institute in Jalan Raja Muda, Kampung Baru have undertaken an initiative to introduce digital identification of the deceased.

Director of operations, Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi, said his team understood the pain the families of Covid-19 victims had to deal with as they were not allowed to visit their loved ones in hospital, and unable to bid them goodbye even in death.

“Realising this, Pusara WPKL provides a body identification facility where one member of the family, who is fully clothed in PPE will be allowed to perform the physical identification in an identification tent, while two others would be allowed to view the face of the deceased through a television screen provided in a special area,” he said recently.

He said the special area was equipped with a digital identification system through a display on a TV screen connected to a high-definition, closed-circuit television camera, allowing family members to record or make live video calls to share with other family members who may be elsewhere.

Other next-of-kin can either say a final goodbye on a monitor provided or can record and beam the proceedings to other members of the family elsewhere. (Bernama pic)

Ahmad Hafizam, a forensic doctor from the national institute of forensic medicine department, Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), who has 14 years of experience, said Pusara WPKL started operations on July 20 and has managed a total of 1,058 remains of Covid-19 patients so far.

“The 24-hour centre receives the remains of the deceased from HKL and can manage the delivery of a maximum of 30 bodies of Muslim patients and 20 non-Muslims at a time.

“We are equipped with five cold storage containers that can accommodate 225 bodies. The current utilisation rate is at almost 70%. The handing over of Covid-19 remains to the next of kin is usually done from 7am to 6pm,” he added.

Meanwhile, a volunteer Aliimran Nordin, 34, who was assigned to care for the family members of Covid-19 victims, said he could feel the grief borne by the next of kin while performing the identification process through the facility provided.

“There are also family members, being quarantined because of having had close contact with the deceased, but could make the identification through video calls,” he said, adding that each family was only given five minutes to make the identification.

Mudzakkir Mohd Zahidi, 30, who lost his 54-year-old father, Mohd Zahidi Mohd Zain to Covid-19, said he used the Google Meet application on his handphone during the digital identification process to enable more relatives, especially those far away, to see his father’s face for one last time.

“We are aware that the handling of the remains of Covid-19 patients is different and we cannot see them face to face but at least with this method we can have a last look before the final rites,” said Mudzakkir, who lives in Shah Alam, Selangor. - FMT