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Responding to a question raised in Parliament by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachi said cremations of COVID-19 afflicted deceased people would continue notwithstanding the report submitted by the committee of experts headed by Professor Jennifer Perera.

In a written report, Professor Perera’s committee said burials of deceased COVID-19 victims could be permitted with strict guidelines in regard to the handling of dead bodies.

The reason given by the Health Minister for the Government continuing the cremation only policy was that the Jennifer Perera report had been handed over to what she called the “main committee” for its consideration and that the “main committee” had not yet given its opinion in regard to the new report recommending burials.

Incidentally this was the first time the Minister had referred to the original committee as the main committee and repeated questioning by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam did not elicit a clear reply from the Health Minister.

The Jennifer Perera committee was appointed on December 24, 2020 and submitted its report to the Health Minister on December 30, 2020. Presumably it was handed over to the so called “main committee” a day or two later, which means the “main committee” has not sent its response even more than one week later.

Going by past performance it is unlikely the “main committee” will respond in a hurry notwithstanding the urgency of the matter.

It is interesting to observe the sequence of events that led to the Government switching from a burial or cremation policy to a cremation only policy by a gazette dated April 11, 2020.

When the first patient afflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic was identified the Government followed the World Health Organisation guidelines permitting cremations or burials leaving the choice to the family of the deceased.

Then soon after the death of the first Muslim COVID-19 patient was reported, the policy of burial or cremation was changed overnight and the gazette of April 11, 2020 was issued. No reason for the change was officially announced by the Government for this decision and to this day the country remains in the dark as to the thinking behind this decision.

The so called “main committee” has not released a written report setting out reasons for its recommendation of only cremation to be permitted, unlike the Jennifer Perera committee which has justified its recommendation for burial in writing. If the April 11, 2020 gazette notification was based on a recommendation by the so called “main committee” that committee must have acted with extraordinary haste in making the recommendation which resulted in the gazette permitting only burials on April 21, 2020.

Although the so called “ main committee” met with lightening speed in April 2020, it seems to move at a snail’s speed when considering the report of the experts in the committee which the Health Minister calls a “sub-committee”.

After the April 11, 2020 gazette announcing that only cremation will be allowed despite representations made by various individuals and organisations no change was made by the Government with regard to its stance. With the focus on the General Elections in August the matter was put on the back burner and almost forgotten except by the families and near and dear ones who faced the anguish of having to undergo trauma at the time of the funerals of their loved ones.

It was only when the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa raised the matter in Parliament on the day following the passage of the 20th Amendment in October, 2020 that the issue of burial once began to receive the attention it deserved

The Ceylon Today of November 14, 2020 reported that the Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi on November 13 said the final decision on burying the remains of those who die due to COVID-19 related complications, will be reached after receiving the report of the technical committee comprising health experts.

According to the news report the committee was appointed on November 11, 2020.

“Several parties have requested us to allow them to bury the remains of COVID-19 dead. But, we have not taken any decision regarding the matter yet. When that request was informed to the Cabinet, they instructed me to take a decision after receiving the report of the Technical experts committee,” she said.

No such report has seen the light of day and although the Minister said the committee was appointed on November 11, 2020 no one knows whether the Health Minister was referring to what she now calls the “main committee” or some other committee. If it was the “main committee” it certainly has taken more than a month of Sundays since November to come to a finding on the matter.

Thereafter a new committee, comprising virologists, microbiologists and immunologists, was appointed by the Health Ministry on December 24, 2020, to provide their expert opinion on the safe disposal of human remains of COVID-19 infected people.

The members of the new committee comprised Microbiology Professor Prof. Neelika Malavige, Consultant Virologist Dr. Geethani Galagoda, Consultant Virologist Dr. Janaki Abeynayake, Consultant Immunologist Dr. Rajeeva de Silva, Consultant Vaccinologist Dr. Kanthi Nanayakkara, Consultant Microbiologist Dr. Malika Karunaratne, Consultant Virologist Dr. Saranga Sumathipala, Consultant Virologist Dr. Nadeeka Janage, Consultant Virologist Dr. Rohitha Muthugala, and Consultant Virologist Dr. Dulmini Kumarasinghe.

In his letter appointing the committee dated December 24, 2020, Health Ministry Secretary S. H. Munasinghe, requested the panel to provide scientific evidence and expert opinions on the behavior of the virus remaining in a corpse of a COVID-19 infected person .

According to a report in the Daily Mirror of January 4, 2021 the Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi had decided to appoint a second expert committee consisting of 11 members which included virologists, microbiologists and immunologists on December 24 following intervention by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who urged for an immediate solution over the matter.

The Daily Mirror report also said some members from the first and second expert committees, set up to study and recommend if COVID-19 victims could be buried, had clashed during a meeting held on December 31, with some members saying burials could cause harm, while all 11 members of the Professor Jennifer Perera headed committee said burials could be permitted.

The Daily Mirror also said all 11 members of the Professor Jennifer Perera headed committee had been questioned separately by a panel which included Ministers Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle, epidemiologists and Health Ministry officials. All 11 members confirmed there was enough scientific evidence to show that burials would cause no harm as COVID-19 was a respiratory illness and not a waterborne disease and bodies should be disposed within 24 hours, and placed within a double-layered body bag prior to being placed in a coffin.

The Sri Lanka Medical Association and the College of Community Physicians too have issued statements saying burials could be permitted in the case of COVID-19 related deaths, adding to the overwhelming voice of medical and scientific opinion which the Government chooses to ignore.

The Health Minister seems to be confusing the issue further when she downgrades the committee headed by Professor Jenniffer Perera which was appointed by her own Ministry. She now calls them as “some virologists” who met State Minister Fernadopulle and gave some recommendations. In the same breath, in answer to Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam she calls it an unofficial committee.

While the poor Health Minister in her confusion claims that no decision will be taken on political and religious grounds, it is clear the “main committee” is being relied on to justify a pre-determined decision of the Government not to permit burials.

As State Minister Dilum Amunugama quite correctly said at a press conference, committees can only make recommendations. It is the Government that makes the final decisions. The sooner apologists for the Government realise this, the better. (javidyusuf@gmail.com)