The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is now utilising the services of a number of funeral homes across the country to store the remains of individuals whose deaths are the subject of police investigations.
Deputy Director of the Force’s Corporate Communication Unit (CCU), Stan Gouveia, in an invited comment, told Stabroek News that the Force is trying to adopt a system whereby one funeral home is being used for each region.
However, he indicated that there are regions that do not have any funeral homes. “For instance there is none in Mahdia… People are usually stored like the old way, in ice and kept at their homes,” he said.
According to Gouveia, the Memorial Gardens Funeral Home is being used as the main facility to store bodies for the Georgetown jurisdiction. However, he noted a decision is also made as to where the bodies are stored based on capacity.
About two weeks ago, Stabroek News had reported that the police were instructed to discontinue using the Lyken/Newburg Funeral Home to store deceased persons under their jurisdiction after the Ministry of Health reported that the company was not adhering to the required protocols.
The ministry alleged that the company was in breach of several health protocols and was not operating by the health standards specified for funeral homes.
Director of the Force’s CCU Mark Ramotar had said that the funeral home was also not in compliance with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) requirements.
As a result, he confirmed that the police force would no longer be using the funeral home’s services based on the ministry’s findings.
