The Dominican Society of Pediatrics urges that public and private hospitals supervise the final disposal when delivering bodies to funeral homes and staff for burial.
The remark by Dr. José Miguel Cruz-Arias, president of the Dominican Society of Pediatrics, came after six corpses of babies, identified as dying at the Juan Bosch Hospital, were found in the vicinity of the Cristo Salvador public cemetery in eastern Santo Domingo where the hospital is located. Dr. Cruz Arias called for monitoring the final outcome of the burials to ensure that the bodies be buried with due dignity.
“The regulations are clear regarding the form and manner of handling biological material from daily practice in health centers,” commented Dr. Cruz Arias.
“This is not the first time that an embarrassing event has happened regarding the management of neonatal corpses and amputation tissues,” he pointed out.
The director of the Ciudad Juan Bosch Hospital, Mariela Reyes, confirmed the babies had died at the public hospital for different reasons. She explained that many times the low-income parents leave the corpses behind to not have to absorb the burial costs. Reyes said the hospital contracts the Funeraria La Popular to bury the corpses with dignity.
The funeral home, on their part, blamed the burial worker “El Gris” at the cemetery for the irregular disposing of the corpses. The owner of the funeral home Julián Encarnación blamed the burial worker at the cemetery for receiving the corpses and not providing the contracted burial.
The bodies were found at around 6am on Tuesday, 3 October by a municipal police who notified a shop owner in the area who in turn called 911.
El Dia and Diario Libre dedicated editorials to the situation, demanding the Ministry of Public Health act in this case.
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El Caribe
El Dia
El Dia
El Dia
Hoy
Hoy
Noticias SIN
Noticias SIN
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
5 October 2023