End free-for-all with funeral homes

Earl Bailey, Guest Columnist

While Jamaica has been touted as having the most churches per square mile (an assertion I have never bothered to verify), the mushrooming of funeral homes/parlours is an increasing phenomenon that appears aimed at taking over from churches.

There are well over 200 funeral homes operating in Jamaica with close to 15 major ones, all operating without any regulation or an overarching professional body or ethical code of conduct. Of the more than 600 pieces of legislation in Jamaica, only three - Jamaica Public Health Act, 1985; Cremation Act, 1951; and the Burial within City Limits Act, 1875 - come close to speaking in any manner or form to the operational standards for funeral homes/parlours. As a matter of fact, they DO NOT!

The Local Board of Health established under the Public Health Act, under direction from the minister, has the authority to make regulations and prescribe the penalties for the contravention of any regulation on a range of issues. None of these issues comes close to funeral home operations and the manner in which they treat bodies or the waste products from their operations.

The Central Health Com-mittee is also established under the Public Health Act to advise the minister and the Local Health Board on such matters which concern public health as they think fit. I think that the mushrooming of funeral homes all over the island qualifies as a matter of concern.

Not only is there a need to monitor their operations, but also their location and the manner in which they dispose of waste matter.

SPATIAL PROVISIONS THREATENED

The spatial expansion of traditional and non-traditional urban areas is also threatening some of the spatial provisions under many of these acts. For example, Section 5b and c of the Cremation Act of 1951 speak to the construction and establishment of crematoriums: (b) nearer to any dwelling house than 200 yards except with the consent in writing of the owner, lessee or occupier of such house; and (c) within 50 yards of any public thoroughfare.

The Burial within City Limits Act (Section 3) also speaks to the lawful burial of bodies within the limits of any town or village, which may be defined for the purpose of this act, as if to say that this now gives the ministry powers to define city and town limits outside of that given to the Town and Country Planning Act and the respective parish council acts.

Clearly, urbanisation trends in Jamaica will soon render many of these spatial limits void.

The popular mode of burial in Jamaica - where cemeteries are now competing with agricultural and residential land demands - is NOT sustainable.

Many funeral homes are involved in unethical and hazardous practices in preparing bodies for burial. Some funeral homes have 'special' arrangements with some agents of the State within the security and health sector, which is not only dangerous, but compromises the ethics of the profession. However, in an environment where there are no ethical or professional conducts to contravene, one can only imagine the range of atrocities that take place.

I now call upon the responsible, ethical and morally inclined members of the funeral home community to come together and reverse many of the negative developing trends within the profession. I also call upon the ministries to enact and amend legislation and institutions to rein in the delinquencies of funeral homes in Jamaica so that their effects on public health and safety are eliminated.

Email feedback to earlplanner@hotmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.