Six feet under: Suffering indignities even after death
Incessant paperwork and medico-legal formalities required to transport bodies of loved ones.
Incessant paperwork and medico-legal formalities required to transport bodies of loved ones. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
Sarfaraz Khan, 25, remembers the terrible night his uncle died of brain hemorrhage and Sarfaraz was asked by the family in bring the body back home to Buner, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, more than 1,500 kilometres away, for burial.
“The task gets extremely hard when the body starts decomposing while you are trying to get the paperwork done,” says Sarfaraz, a semi-literate cook who works at a hotel in Karachi. “The formalities seem to be never ending.”
Not a moment to grieve
He recalls that because of a spelling mistake in his uncle’s name on the death certificate the police had refused to take the body through official proceedings.
“It was at around midnight that I rushed back to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) to get the typo corrected, got the body released and sent it to Edhi morgue to prepare for the long journey,” Sarfaraz narrates quietly.
“I had to make consistent requests to the administration but it took them an additional hour to issue the formal death certificate. After that, I went to seek the police certificate permitting me to transport the body. Once I got that one too, I headed for the airport where it took me seven chaotic hours to get the tickets to Islamabad.”
From here to there
Because of lingering procedures, transporting a body is a convoluted, time-consuming process that the bereaved have to go through.
Mohammad Yousuf, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) official, explained the airline needs two photocopies each of the death certificate, the police Rahdari (transit) certificate and the certificate of sealing the body in a box which is issued by the company that provides the services.
“Each aircraft has a special air-conditioned place to carry bodies,” explains Yousuf. “The fare is charged according to weight and it costs Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 to fly each body to Lahore or Islamabad.”
Officially dead
The police require a death certificate before they issue a transit certificate. Government hospitals issue the certificate after examination of the body without any fee.
“To get the death certificate in the case of a natural death, you have to get a receipt at the emergency department first,” says Dr Parshotam Rathore, a medico-legal officer (MLO) at the Civil Hospital.
In the case of an accidental death or a murder, the hospital informs the police and the concerned personnel to carry out legal formalities, says Rathore. A police certificate is issued to the family after this procedure.
“If someone dies in the hospital for any reason, accidental or natural, a Casualty Medical Officer (CMO) issues the certificate after examination,” Rathore explains further.
Certificates galore
On submitting the death certificate to the police, the transit certificate to move the body is issued.
“This Rahdari certificate, as it is called, enables the relatives to transport the body without being any inquiries by the many law-enforcement agencies on the way,” says Akhtar Hussain, a police officer at the Jackson police station.
For accidental deaths and murders, the police take over the entire process as police officials carry out necessary investigations, lodge the FIR and issue the Rahdari certificate as well.
The process does not end here. Apparently, a ‘bath and coffin certificate’ is also needed. The airline requires the body to be properly prepared for burial and placed in a coffin duly sealed to prevent any unpleasant odour. These services are provided at the Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth.
“After the standard procedure to prevent the odour coming out of the coffin in transit, we issue this certificate,” says Edhi Foundation secretary Anwer Kazmi. “The coffin and the bath costs Rs3,200.”
Abandoned bodies brought in by ambulance services like Edhi or Chhipa are sent to Edhi morgue while the police try to locate the family members.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2013.
Sarfaraz Khan, 25, remembers the terrible night his uncle died of brain hemorrhage and Sarfaraz was asked by the family in bring the body back home to Buner, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, more than 1,500 kilometres away, for burial.
“The task gets extremely hard when the body starts decomposing while you are trying to get the paperwork done,” says Sarfaraz, a semi-literate cook who works at a hotel in Karachi. “The formalities seem to be never ending.”
Not a moment to grieve
He recalls that because of a spelling mistake in his uncle’s name on the death certificate the police had refused to take the body through official proceedings.
“It was at around midnight that I rushed back to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) to get the typo corrected, got the body released and sent it to Edhi morgue to prepare for the long journey,” Sarfaraz narrates quietly.
“I had to make consistent requests to the administration but it took them an additional hour to issue the formal death certificate. After that, I went to seek the police certificate permitting me to transport the body. Once I got that one too, I headed for the airport where it took me seven chaotic hours to get the tickets to Islamabad.”
From here to there
Because of lingering procedures, transporting a body is a convoluted, time-consuming process that the bereaved have to go through.
Mohammad Yousuf, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) official, explained the airline needs two photocopies each of the death certificate, the police Rahdari (transit) certificate and the certificate of sealing the body in a box which is issued by the company that provides the services.
“Each aircraft has a special air-conditioned place to carry bodies,” explains Yousuf. “The fare is charged according to weight and it costs Rs3,000 to Rs4,000 to fly each body to Lahore or Islamabad.”
Officially dead
The police require a death certificate before they issue a transit certificate. Government hospitals issue the certificate after examination of the body without any fee.
“To get the death certificate in the case of a natural death, you have to get a receipt at the emergency department first,” says Dr Parshotam Rathore, a medico-legal officer (MLO) at the Civil Hospital.
In the case of an accidental death or a murder, the hospital informs the police and the concerned personnel to carry out legal formalities, says Rathore. A police certificate is issued to the family after this procedure.
“If someone dies in the hospital for any reason, accidental or natural, a Casualty Medical Officer (CMO) issues the certificate after examination,” Rathore explains further.
Certificates galore
On submitting the death certificate to the police, the transit certificate to move the body is issued.
“This Rahdari certificate, as it is called, enables the relatives to transport the body without being any inquiries by the many law-enforcement agencies on the way,” says Akhtar Hussain, a police officer at the Jackson police station.
For accidental deaths and murders, the police take over the entire process as police officials carry out necessary investigations, lodge the FIR and issue the Rahdari certificate as well.
The process does not end here. Apparently, a ‘bath and coffin certificate’ is also needed. The airline requires the body to be properly prepared for burial and placed in a coffin duly sealed to prevent any unpleasant odour. These services are provided at the Edhi morgue at Sohrab Goth.
“After the standard procedure to prevent the odour coming out of the coffin in transit, we issue this certificate,” says Edhi Foundation secretary Anwer Kazmi. “The coffin and the bath costs Rs3,200.”
Abandoned bodies brought in by ambulance services like Edhi or Chhipa are sent to Edhi morgue while the police try to locate the family members.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2013.