Facilitating the final farewell

Those involved in funeral arrangements help give peace of mind to bereaved families in this time of pandemic

OFTEN when we talk about the frontliners, we would refer to those in essential services such as healthcare, firefighting and rescue, as well as the police and the armed forces.

Not many of us would immediately think about those working at funeral homes, whom we should honour too in that they provide a crucial service to bereaved families in this time of the pandemic – ensuring that their dearly departed would be properly sent off to their final resting place.

Amidst the current challenging situation, an exhaustive list of arrangements including logistics, liaising with the management of cemeteries or crematoria, and also handling the paperworks, must be followed through to ensure the health and safety of not only the funeral frontliners, but also the next-of-kin.

Yong Pow Shen, the director of Hua Lee Funeral Service Centre in Miri, said like many other businesses, funeral homes had also been adversely affected by Covid-19.

“I have had enough of people talking about how the funeral business is thriving as deaths due to Covid-19 are being reported daily.

“Actually, the severity of the impact from Covid-19 on this sector is not getting much of attention. The domino effect that we’re experiencing comes from so many directions, it’s not easy for us to put it in words,” he told thesundaypost.

Helping families during difficult times

Income loss, paycut, and unemployment due to the slow economy because of Covid-19 – all of these have forced many families to stretch out their ringgit as much as they can.

“Imagine a family that had just lost one of their own – they needed to hold a funeral, but severely lacked the financial means to do it.

“The dignity of the deceased is one issue; the reality is another. In cases like this, we could not shun them; we would work around the budget,” said Yong.

According to him, traditionally a part of the funeral expenses would be covered by bereavement money – a customary token given to a grieving family.

However, the Covid-19 situation had resulted in a significant drop in bereavement money being received by families.

Yong said due to Movement Control Order (MCO), relatives, friends or acquaintances could not come physically to funerals to pay their last respects – they could only offer messages of condolences from afar.

“Some (families) might just decide to keep it simple and decline any bereavement money to avoid burdening others. Holding a funeral could be costly – it could take up to four days, from the wake until the burial.

“In this respect, cremation saves a lot of time, money and energy, which is why it is now the most preferred option,” said Yong, adding that the remains of those who died due to Covid-19 would be cremated.

Workload still heavy

Yong said during the pre-Covid-19 times, the funeral home staff would work closely with the next-of-kin, discussing in details the arrangements.

Compared to now, he observed that pandemic had somewhat cut down many steps in the process, but the workload was still heavy.

He did not deny the stress in managing the whole thing – from strict compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOPs), the paperwork that must be submitted to the authorities, up to the compulsory swab-testing.

“Covid-19 has definitely changed how things work, and it can get overwhelming sometimes.

“When people are unable to communicate face-to-face, we rely a lot on technology. WhatsApp messaging, as well as phone and video calls help resolve many problems,” said Yong, 38.

He said with regard to deaths due to Covid-19, the divisional Health Office would notify his funeral home and remind his team about the SOP.

“The first layer of thorough sanitisation would be done by the Health workers.

“We would carry out another round of sanitisation works after the funeral is over.”

Yong said while the funeral home did not handle the earthly remains directly, it helped make the arrangements with the crematorium and the columbaria.

“For the grieving families, we provide the platform for them to hold SOP-compliant prayer sessions to honour their dearly departed, with two to three family members allowed to attend.

“We still make all the necessary funeral arrangements for those who did not die from Covid-19, but with certain restrictions.”

Yong said for his business to be fully SOP-compliant, he had to spend extra.

“We need to buy the disinfectant liquid, the PPEs (personal protective equipment) and many other items.

“We must control the number of workers for each case, brief the family members on the SOP, and deal with the authorities.

“It hasn’t been easy, but having worked under such condition for more than a year, we are now used to the new norm; despite a few hiccups here and there, we’re managing rather well,” he said.

‘Communal obligation’

Iqbal Abdollah has been involved in ‘pengurusan jenazah’ (Muslim funeral rites) since he was 12.

Today, the Inland Revenue Board Miri’s senior executive officer II is among the active volunteers of the funeral unit of Masjid At-Taqwa, Miri.

In Islam, funeral arrangements – from ‘mandi jenazah’ (cleansing of the remains), ‘solat jenazah’ (funeral prayer) up to burial – are regarded as ‘fardu kifayah’ (communal obligation).

Different from ‘fardu ain’ (individual obligation), fardu kifayah in Shariah requires at least one person within a Muslim society to have good knowledge and understanding of a key field, such as the funeral rites.

In terms of the SOP for Muslim funerals amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the guidelines and restrictions have been advocated by the Fatwa Committee.

“It took me some time to process and understand the SOP for handling the remains of those who died from Covid-19.

“Prior to the pandemic, we would have up to five ‘pengaie’ (funeral managers) to handle a body – one person to attend to the head, and two to each side of the body – especially during the ‘mandi jenazah’.

“After that, the body would be wrapped neatly in in layers of plain white cloth called the ‘kafan’.

“Now, it’s the new norm – the Ministry of Health, together with the National Security Council (NSC) and the Islamic authorities, have set a strict SOP where the majority of the arrangements are being carried out by the Muslim health workers, who have undergone thorough training on this.”

Iqbal, 42, said with regard to any Muslim who died from Covid-19, the body would not undergo ‘mandi jenazah’.

“The remains would be sealed inside a fully-sanitised body bag; in fact, everything in contact with the body would be heavily disinfected. Instead of ‘mandi jenazah’, the ‘tayammum’ (dry ablution, using clean substance from earth surface such as soil, sand or dust for purification instead of water) would be performed over the body bag.

“Then, it would be transferred into coffin and ‘solat jenazah’ would be performed.

“Not even one family member is allowed throughout the whole procedure, as the objective is to strictly minimise people’s contact with the body.”

Iqbal said he could not even imagine how devastated and depressing it was for the mourning families to not be able to see, touch and hug their departed loved ones for the last time.

“There’s really nothing that they can do. In terms of a Covid-19 patient who had died, the process is ‘from the mortuary straight away to burial at the cemetery’, with no involvement from the families.

“Even the final resting place is disinfected completely after burial,” he said, adding that there had been incidents where some upset family members lashed out at the health workers.

“In the current situation, we should just ‘redha’ (be accepting) over such arrangements.”

‘Appreciating things that really matter’

Yong was a sales executive before he was put in charge of the funeral home about 10 years ago by his father, who established the operation in 1985.

However, it was a relatively straightforward transition as prior to that, he had always helped his father out during his days off.

Being in such a business had also kept him grounded, especially throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Taking care of this business is already a challenge; doing it during this time is another.

“Seeing how parents, children, spouses, relatives and friends mourn over the loss of their loved ones and express their regrets, really hits home because it reminds me how short life is.

“This pandemic, in a way, has made me become more appreciative of the time that I have with my parents, my wife and my children,” said Yong.

Expressing similar sentiments, Iqbal felt that one must have strong mental strength to deal with Covid-19 deaths, especially when they involved family members or someone close.

“For those who are really new to handling the ‘jenazah’, they might experience Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after being pushed into performing the task amidst the Covid-19 situation; but for those who have been in the funeral unit for a long time, I guess we have managed to find ways to relief the stress.”

Iqbal also remind everyone, including himself, to ‘never, ever take family for granted’.

“Crying and regretting over our departed loved ones would never bring them back.

“Covid-19 or no Covid-19, we will continue to deal with deaths.
“Still, what’s more important is for us to really treasure and appreciate those who matter to us and are still around,” he said.