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Private funeral homes collected $86 m in 2007/8BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
GOVERNMENT during the 2007/8 financial year paid out a whopping $86,405,961 to private funeral homes to collect and store the bodies of persons who die violently or 'under mysterious circumstances'.
The Government has over the years been forced to make large payouts to these funeral homes because the state is without a public morgue, while those at public hospitals are either run-down or overburdened.
The Kingston Metropolitan Region (KMR) - the Corporate Area, Spanish Town and the Municipality of Portmore - which has the largest number of violent deaths in the island is currently covered by Madden's Funeral Home.
The administration is, however, hoping that by the year 2010 the money paid to private funeral homes would be drastically reduced as it is expected that the public morgue to serve the KMR would be completed by then.
The estimate for building that facility has been put at $450 million.
According to Gilbert Scott, permanent secretary in the national security ministry, the high amount being paid out to funeral homes was one justification for the construction of the public morgue. He said it was expected that the cost to construct the facility would be recovered in about five years from its commissioning.
Plans for the construction of a public morgue in Jamaica's capital, Kingston, have been pending since 1989, but Scott said tenders were being examined and a contractor should be selected within another six to eight weeks. Work, he said, should begin by the end of December. He told the Observer that work had already started on a perimeter fencing for the state-of-the-art facility, which will be located at 149 Orange Street in downtown Kingston.
"Once we have assessed and selected what we consider to be the successful bidder then we have to get the approval of the National Contracts Commission before going to Cabinet for approval; only after that can we award the contract," Scott told the Observer. He said a 2010 completion date was envisioned for the building which should take about two years to construct.
"The decision to build the morgue is also related to our commitment to improve our criminal investigations through the application of new technologies and better access to the forensic evidence that will be facilitated with new modern facilities," Scott said. The Government in April of this year announced that it had allocated $200 million to begin construction of the long overdue public morgue for Kingston.
The former People's National Party Government in June of 2007 announced plans to allocate $80 million dollars for the construction of a state-of-the-art morgue in Kingston, in the aftermath of the exposure of the gross inadequacies of the island's pathological capabilities after the suspicious death of former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer.
According to police statistics, in 2006 Jamaica's murder rate stood at 1,340, rising to 1,574 in 2007. Since the start of the year well over 900 persons have died violently.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
GOVERNMENT during the 2007/8 financial year paid out a whopping $86,405,961 to private funeral homes to collect and store the bodies of persons who die violently or 'under mysterious circumstances'.
The Government has over the years been forced to make large payouts to these funeral homes because the state is without a public morgue, while those at public hospitals are either run-down or overburdened.
The Kingston Metropolitan Region (KMR) - the Corporate Area, Spanish Town and the Municipality of Portmore - which has the largest number of violent deaths in the island is currently covered by Madden's Funeral Home.
The administration is, however, hoping that by the year 2010 the money paid to private funeral homes would be drastically reduced as it is expected that the public morgue to serve the KMR would be completed by then.
The estimate for building that facility has been put at $450 million.
According to Gilbert Scott, permanent secretary in the national security ministry, the high amount being paid out to funeral homes was one justification for the construction of the public morgue. He said it was expected that the cost to construct the facility would be recovered in about five years from its commissioning.
Plans for the construction of a public morgue in Jamaica's capital, Kingston, have been pending since 1989, but Scott said tenders were being examined and a contractor should be selected within another six to eight weeks. Work, he said, should begin by the end of December. He told the Observer that work had already started on a perimeter fencing for the state-of-the-art facility, which will be located at 149 Orange Street in downtown Kingston.
"Once we have assessed and selected what we consider to be the successful bidder then we have to get the approval of the National Contracts Commission before going to Cabinet for approval; only after that can we award the contract," Scott told the Observer. He said a 2010 completion date was envisioned for the building which should take about two years to construct.
"The decision to build the morgue is also related to our commitment to improve our criminal investigations through the application of new technologies and better access to the forensic evidence that will be facilitated with new modern facilities," Scott said. The Government in April of this year announced that it had allocated $200 million to begin construction of the long overdue public morgue for Kingston.
The former People's National Party Government in June of 2007 announced plans to allocate $80 million dollars for the construction of a state-of-the-art morgue in Kingston, in the aftermath of the exposure of the gross inadequacies of the island's pathological capabilities after the suspicious death of former Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer.
According to police statistics, in 2006 Jamaica's murder rate stood at 1,340, rising to 1,574 in 2007. Since the start of the year well over 900 persons have died violently.