The commissioner for health in Lagos State, Akin Abayomi has disclosed why the corpse of Abba Kyari was released and moved to Abuja for burial.
Abayomi during a press briefing on Sunday noted that there is no policy in place that forbids the release of the bodies of patients who died of COVID-19 to their families for burial.
It can be recalled that Kyari died of COVID-19 complications at First Cardiology Consultants hospital in Lagos on Friday and was buried at Gudu Cemetery in Abuja on Saturday.
The health commissioner responded to a question quoting the Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed, once said families of dead Coronavirus patients will not be allowed to claim their corpses, wondering why it was not the same with the late Abba Kyari.
Abayomi said: “There is no policy against the release of the deceased with COVID-19 to the family for burial.
“It depends on many conditions. There’s a protocol to manage every scenario. The protocol to manage death from COVID-19 is that the body will be decontaminated; the body is then placed in a special body bag.
“We put them in two body bags and then placed within a coffin and the coffin is sealed. The family will then be given the opportunity to come and collect the body and taken for burial. Restriction around the burial must follow the current law on congregations and no more than 25 people, in total, including the religious members of the ceremony and the gravediggers; they should not exceed 25.
“Family can then carry out the private burial ceremony.“Once we’ve conducted the proper protocol for decontaminating the body and ensuring the body is put in body bags, and then put in a coffin.
“There’s no current policy that bars us from handing over bodies of the deceased to their family members; just that it must be done in a way that does not expose family members or that doesn’t breach the law on the numbers of people that should be aggregated in one place.”
