Before we begin, how about you take a guess on how much it actually costs for the corpse handling of a deceased COVID-19 patient? A few hundreds maybe? RM 800? Well, according to Berita Harian, in Kelantan, it costs between RM 1300 to RM 1900 per person! 

Many citizens have started to complain about the costs saying it is unreasonable and adds on an additional burden to the deceased families. 

According to Berita Harian, the Deputy Chairman of the Al Kautsar Welfare Organization, Muhammad Imdaadullah Muhammad Asri that helped many of the deceased’s families by paying the Uztazah that handled the bathing of the deceased COVID-19 patients at the Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (HRPZ II) Forensic Unit last June said that that the cost is too high. 

He said that originally, the person handling the bathing process asked for a whopping RM 1900 but after negotiating, they lowered the price to RM 1300. 

He also stated that the cost should actually be around RM 200 only but because there are some people who are looking to take advantage, they hiked the price up to RM 1300 to RM 1900.

Muhammad Imdaadullah said that most families can’t afford to bear the expensive costs but are forced to in order to expedite the funeral management process. 

The cost stated earlier is only for the tayamum which is the bathing of the dead, not including the van, the digging of the grave and the coffin. 

On the other hand, the hospitals in Perak do not charge for the funeral management services as it is conducted by the Perak Islamic Religious Department (JAIPk) for Muslims and a consortium for non -Muslims. 

Chairman of the state Health, Science, Environment and Green Technology Committee, Mohd Akmal Kamarudin said, so far, the management of the remains of COVID-19 victims in the state has not caused any problems.

Meanwhile, we hope that the overcharging in Kelantan will be sorted out as soon as possible. 

If you are facing any financial issues with the funeral of your loved ones that have passed due to COVID-19, be sure to make use of the financial aid of RM 5000 given by the government through the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA).