THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has not objected to the cremation of the bodies of people who died from Covid-19.
More than that, some international medical experts say cremations may be medically safer than burials for those handling the corpse of a loved one who passed away as a result of the contagious disease.
This matter has become relevant in Trinidad and Tobago in light of a major conflict between the health authorities and Hindu organisations over the ritual of cremations.
The issue has even played out in court.
In a rare development, all major local Hindu groups united to challenge the government on the issue.
The government is being represented by Dr. Roshan Parasram, the Chief Medical Officer, a Hindu and a close relative of Dr. Rampersad Parasram, Dharmacharya (spiritual head) of the faith.
CMO Parasram is to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies for his “outstanding contributions to regional and international development.”
One international expert explained that the pathogen from Covid-19 transmits from one person to another via droplets.
“This means,” he said, “that it requires body fluid to keep finding new victims.
“Usually, burial takes seven to 10 days in the decomposition of a body.
“The body retains fluid for three to four days.”
He added: “So theoretically, Covid-19 can transmit during the preparation of the body for burial, or if the grave is shallow, over three to four days after death.
“In the case of cremation, ashes do not present that risk.”
By far the largest number of global cremations takes place in India, and that country’s Health Ministry recommended the use of electric or piped natural gas cremations.
The Ministry said that packing the body in a plastic and burying holds the risk of contamination, as decomposition is delayed in plastic.
Like T&T, India has a rule of no more than five people attending a funeral.
The Indian authorities are permitting burials if the facilities are large enough and “pose no contamination in nearby areas.”
Up to 85 percent of India’s nationals are worshippers of the Hindu faith, and they dispose of deceased relatives through cremations.
Muslims, who comprise slightly less than 15 per cent, prefer burials.
As in T&T, crematoriums (called shmashana in Hindi) are open-air spaces with platforms upon which a body is burned on a pyre made of wood.
Hindus and Sikhs usually dispose of the remaining ashes in a river.
T&T’s open-air crematoriums are built near banks of rivers, just as in India and elsewhere.
Former British colonial societies like T&T and India had major run-ins with the authorities over the right to cremate the dead in keeping with their religious belief.
The colonial authorities reportedly felt that cremations were primitive and environmentally polluting.
The practice of cremations is said to have been referred to in a bhajan (Hindu worship song) in the Rig Veda of 2000 BC.
Cremations are seen as the final breaking of ties between the body and spirit.
Local Hindu organisations have said the prohibition is “culturally and religiously insensitive” and “harsh, oppressive and disproportionate.”
The groups said the restriction has caused “additional grief and hardship to Hindu families.”
They said that Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh and CMO Parasram are probably unaware that Hindus were once not permitted to have open-air cremations.
“Through unity, struggle and resilience, our community was able to earn the statutory right to cremate our beloved ones in accordance with religious and cultural beliefs,” the Hindu bodies said.
The current policy was described as oppressive.
The Hindu organisations called on Deyalsingh and Parasram to “forthwith remove the prohibition on open-air pyre cremations…”
