By Latrishka Thomas
In a unanimous decision on Wednesday, the Upper House of Parliament gave its approval to statutory provisions designed to ensure the appropriate disposal of unclaimed corpses.
The legislation, known as the Public Health Amendment Bill 2023, will soon be officially gazetted following its passage through the Senate.
The primary objective of the Bill is to address the growing issue of bodies left unidentified and unclaimed by family members at funeral homes.
Under the newly approved legislation, the Chief Health Inspector will have the authority to order a burial or cremation. This action will take place 45 days after an initial 14-day period, during which notices will be published, calling on individuals to come forward and claim the body.
Samantha Marshall, the Leader of Government Business in the Senate, presented the new legislation during the sitting.
She emphasised that they “are hoping that individuals will be identified for their family members to come forward and give them their final send-off”.
The Bill was unchallenged by the opposition, however Senate Minority Leader Shawn Nicholas shared two concerns.
She mentioned the section of the legislation which says that “the Chief Health Inspector shall cause to be published two notices in the Official Gazette and a daily newspaper circulating in Antigua and Barbuda and where practicable any social media source”.
Nicholas said that perhaps two daily newspapers should be utilised.
“When we look at the cost of advertising versus the cost of holding these bodies, advertising works out to be far cheaper and we want to make sure that we reach as wide a cross-section of the population as possible,” she said.
In addition, she expressed concern over the part of the Bill which states that “the expenses of the burial shall be recovered from the deceased’s estate, which shall include but is not limited to the Social Security payments to which the deceased may be entitled”.
“In terms of recovering from their estate, whereas it’s admirable, how realistic do we think it is in terms of recovering?” she queried.
The Bill also makes provision for the government to bear a “reasonable” cost if there are no known assets to cover the expenses of the burial.
