Bahrain: Authorities in Bahrain have welcomed an expatriate support group’s call for a single window system to repatriate bodies free of charge.
Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh received a proposal in this regard from the Cancer Care Group (CCG) in her office in Juffair.
The aim is to have a dedicated office to curb delays in sending the bodies home, especially during weekends, CCG general secretary K T Salim told the GDN.
“The minister assured us that the initiative will be implemented in consultation with all the authorities involved in the process.
“We are sure Bahrain can benefit from this move which has been inspired by a similar initiative in Doha.”
A new office opened at the Doha Hamad General Hospital on Monday offering, under one roof and free of charge, all services related to the repatriation of bodies or their burial inside the country.
The Humanitarian Services Office, which will be open throughout the week, is expected to cut the lengthy procedures involved in repatriating bodies of people dying in Qatar to a few hours.
According to procedure, when an expat dies in Bahrain, the employer or relative needs clearance documents from the ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs, the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) and respective embassies.
“For repatriation, we need the ‘cause of death’ certificate from the mortuary, a death certificate from the Health Ministry’s Birth and Death directorate, no-objection certificate from the respective embassy, clearance from the Foreign Affairs Ministry and finally from the CID,” said Mr Salim.
The charges involved are the nominal embalming charges and the cargo fare. Normally, the procedures take one day, but get delayed if the death occurs during weekends and also if the dead is an illegal resident.
“The major delays occur while issuing the death certificate, mainly during the weekends as of late the on-call facility is unavailable.
Traditions
“A single dedicated office will also save time for the person – be it the employer or the relative or a social worker – who otherwise will have to run from one place to another.
“Moreover, some traditions call for burial within 24 hours of death, which the minister said Bahrain respected.”
Mr Salim said the maximum charge for repatriating a body to India is around BD500.
“The embalming charge is BD120 and the cost of a box varies from BD40 to BD80.
“The cargo charge varies between BD300 and BD450 to India, while to other countries it is more expensive.”
He added that it was a misconception that only clearing agents can handle the repatriation of bodies.
“There are no charges beyond the embalming and cargo costs and anyone authorised by the family or the employer can do these procedures.”
Sources told the GDN that the agencies charge up to BD900 for repatriation, on which Mr Salim declined to comment.
“When it comes to cases of low-income or illegal workers, clearing agencies take over and they charge between BD200 and BD850 for procuring clearance documents from ministries,” a source told the GDN.
“The embalming charges and cargo fares are often taken care of by the embassies, while the task gets tough when we have to raise funds to pay the agency.
“This also adds to the delay and mostly in cases of poor workers their bodies get stuck here for longer time.
“We welcome the proposal for a dedicated office, which will tackle this issue as well.”
Mr Salim visited Ms Saleh along with CCG president Dr P V Cheriyan, who also briefed the minister on the activities of the group.
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