Following the termination of the contract between the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and Lyken/Newburg Funeral Home, the funeral company has decided to take legal action against the GPF.
Co-director of Lyken Funeral Home, Dr Dawn Stewart-Lyken said that she learnt of the termination of the contract, which was directed by the Ministry of Health, via the newspapers, further stating that no official document of termination was ever presented to the funeral home by the police. As such the company has since secured the services of attorney-at-law, Khemraj Ramjattan to represent its case.
In a previous report, the Police Corporate Communications Unit Director, Mark Ramotar, had said that the funeral home was not in compliance with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). However, Stewart-Lyken provided documents showing that they are in compliance with both agencies.
The oldest Afro-Guyanese-owned funeral home was established in 1922 and to date has been in operation for 99-years. It has handled bodies from the Jim Jones, Lusignan, Bartica and Lindo Creek massacres. Stewart-Lyken pointed out that Lyken/Newburg Funeral Home was the only funeral home accepting decomposed bodies as it is equipped to do so. The co-director feels she is being victimised and is being targeted by a particular member of the Central Board of Health.
An inspection done on the funeral home in September of 2019 reported a strong odour coming from the preparation area as well as decomposed bodies being stored in the same room as fresh bodies. Dr Stewart-Lyken explained that all dead bodies are at varying decomposed levels and pointed out that while fresh bodies are kept on shelves, bodies that come through the police are usually bagged and thereafter placed in a canister and stored below the less decomposed bodies, since this prevents cross-contamination. The Central Board of Health of the Ministry of Health has alleged that some of these canisters were placed on the floors as the shelves were packed to capacity which Dr. Stewart-Lyken has admitted has occurred on occasion.
Additionally, she said that the only method of preventing decomposition was embalming which she noted is too expensive and therefore, rarely done. The woman continued that even in the refrigerator, decomposition cannot be prevented but went on to say that the facility has in the past stored bodies awaiting DNA specimens for the GPF for between three to five years.
She also spoke about the strong odour that was mentioned in the letter of inspection, explaining that the only time there is an odour is when the decomposed bodies are being put into the refrigerator or taken out. However, when this newspaper was taken on a tour of the preparation area in the morgue, it was noted that there was indeed a strong odour emanating from this area without the refrigerator being opened. The board, Dr Stewart-Lyken went on, had said that the odour would cause employees to fall ill, but she asserted that in the almost one hundred years since the funeral home has been in business, they have never had any such incident.
The Central Board of Health had insisted that a second refrigerator be constructed to avoid cross-contamination. “We’re unaware of the laws that govern…[what] the Ministry of Health is saying to us that the reason why we are not compliant or we don’t have a licence… is because we don’t have a second refrigerator to hold decomposed bodies,” said the co-director. She reiterated that there is no cross-contamination and as such no need for an additional refrigerator. She added that there is no law that says that a funeral home should have two refrigerators to be compliant and opined that they are being “persecuted” for standards that there is no law for.
In a letter to the director of the funeral home, Gordon Lyken, dated May 18, 2021, and seen by this newspaper, a second inspection was done on April 30 of this year and it stated that the funeral home had gotten the construction of the refrigerator underway but it was incomplete as parts for it were yet to be procured. The parts Stewart-Lyken said, have been delayed owing to the pandemic. The letter which was signed by Chief Medical Officer, Dr Narine Singh, referred to a previous letter dated September 14, 2020 and the provisional licence issued from September 30, 2020 until December 29, 2020. The instructions in the letter gave a further extension of a month to comply with the Central Board of Health or have their operations ceased on June 18, 2021.
As of yesterday when this newspaper visited, Lyken Funeral Home was still in operation and the reason being, according to Stewart-Lyken is because the Ministry of Health has not stopped their operations.
She noted that should they be put out of operation, their ten employees along with the legacy they have created are what will be affected.
She further alleged that the GPF owes in excess of $35 million to the funeral home for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.
