City buries 500 unclaimed corpses

City buries 500 unclaimed corpses

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration buries some 500
unclaimed corpses at the government-run Pondok Rangon cemetery in
East Jakarta each year, an official said.

A staff member at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's
morgue, Mardiyono, said on Friday the government covered all the
expenses for the burials.

"The expenses include rental fees for the burial plots, fees
for ambulance rentals and costs for burial services," he said.

He said each corpse was buried in its own grave, and the
burial plot was reused to bury a new corpse after a period of
three years.

Burials could take place between two to three times a week, he
said.

Mardiyono also said the morgue sometimes buried corpses which
were claimed by families who were too poor to pay for the burial.

"We cannot refuse to bury a corpse because of humanitarian
principles. Besides, we cannot keep a body in the morgue," he
said.

As part of a general hospital, the morgue receives a number of
corpses each day. If a corpse is not claimed within two days, the
morgue will perform a postmortem examination and then bury the
body.

Mardiyono said if someone came to claim a corpse after the
burial, the morgue would dig up the grave and return the body to
the family.

"Before doing so, the family must prove the corpse was really
their relative," he said. (04)