Funerals and cremations often cannot take place within the statutory period of six days during corona. Funeral directors therefore spend a lot of time arranging postponement, it writes AD. The largest funeral director, Dela, says about a quarter of funerals were postponed in December. In some regions this is a third of the cases.
The postponement may be necessary because crematoria are fully planned, relatives have corona or are stuck abroad. However, the postponement is now “a bureaucratic procedure”, says spokesman Martijn van de Koolwijk of Dela. “We must consult a doctor, who must estimate whether the body is able to bridge that period. And with that statement we have to go to the mayor, who must give permission,” Van de Koolwijk told the newspaper. NOS Radio 1 News. The next of kin are also involved in the procedure.
The funeral director argues for a temporary exemption from the obligation during the pandemic. He argues that care, mayors and relatives should be relieved of “that bureaucracy”.
The rule that a doctor must make an assessment of the body was introduced in the early 1990s. According to Van de Koolwijk, the cooling techniques have now been considerably improved. “The danger of more than twenty years ago is now as good as gone.” The spokesperson also says that he has never experienced a doctor not giving permission. “So it’s a standard action, which is why as far as we’re concerned it can just go.”
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