Funeral home directors are fuming over the lackadaisical response by government to the desperate call for regulations to govern the industry despite numerous promises by state officials.
The operators have been clamouring for these regulations since 2014, when guidelines were crafted to mirror the Public Health Funeral Establishment and Mortuary Operations and Regulations, which was being reviewed by Cabinet. The guidelines would address issues such as the licensing of facilities to ensure accountability and adherence to international best practices.
Since 2016, the current Health Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton has been promising that the legislations would be put in place.
“It is going to have implications and my suggestion would be that as critical stakeholders in this industry, you must start applying your minds to what the implications of regulation and legislation would be on you,” he told funeral directors during an appreciation service held in April 2016.
In stressing the need for standardisation, Dr. Tufton said the industry was largely self-regulated, which promotes “ad hoc” methods of operating.
“This poses a challenge in terms of a threat to public health because some standards are not maintained,” he disclosed.
Dr. Tufton delivered a similar address in April 2019, during another appreciation service held for funeral directors.
“We have to have order in the industry. It’s very important to the normal functioning of our society, and we’re going to have to put those in place,” he asserted.
“We will have to make it happen on the early side of this financial year, not on the late side, and I have made that very clear to the team. So stay tuned for that,” the Minister was quoted as saying in a Jamaica Information Service report.President of the Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers and Funeral Directors, Calvin Lyn, said the draft regulation was amended December 2019 and they got a copy March 2020. He said the Ministry invited the funeral directors to a meeting in March 2020, the same day when the first COVID-19 case was recorded in Jamaica. They were again assured that legislation would be put in place. They were even told that the municipal corporations would be partnering with the public health team to visit the various establishments operating as funeral homes to ensure they are adhering to proper health standards and that these public health officials would recommend that the business owners apply for their licence.
“They quoted all the fees,” recounted Lyn.
Based on the public and private assurances, the funeral home boss said he is surprised that Dr. Tufton has since switched his tone on the issue.
“The last thing he told me and I saw it on the news, is that it is not his Ministry of Health that is responsible for the regulation to go to parliament. It is the Ministry of Local Government headed by Desmond McKenzie,” Lyn said.
The Freedom Come Rain tried making contact with Dr. Tufton via his mobile phone, but the calls went unanswered.
Lyn said he wrote Desmond McKenzie and the local government minister said his ministry was not responsible. His last correspondence with McKenzie was over a month ago.
“For the life of me, I don’t know why the government is behaving like this,” said Lyn who has been going back and forth with both ministries.
“In my response to Tufton, I said ‘over the years, you never knew that it was the other ministry?”
Lyn said the funeral directors are eager to see the regulations come into effect. Even those who are not apart of the Association have been expressing their concerns.
“They are also discouraged, frustrated, annoyed,” he said of the funeral directors.
One of the requirements in the draft legislation is that those operating a funeral home must be trained in mortuary science and show a certificate approved by an accredited institution.
“This is a dignified profession, all we who are trained are saying, is that those who are not trained in mortuary science, go train and do it right,” Lyn insisted.