Twenty-five unclaimed bodies at Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar were cremated this week, as the health facility moved to prevent overcapacity in their forensics department.
“We cremated the abandoned bodies at forensic, whose identities are unknown and whose families did not come to claim,” Ni Luh Dharma Kerti Natih, a director at Sanglah, said.
According to Natih, this is an annual event at Sanglah and that the number of bodies cremated this year is actually fewer than previous years, thanks to support provided by community organizations.
“Now there are many community organizations that are getting involved to take care of the bodies, especially if they are identified. Those who are Muslims for example, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) provides assistance in their burial,” Natih said.
One of the longest kept bodies had been at Sanglah since 2019, Natih explained, adding that the cost for treatment of the former patients and the handling of their bodies after they died reached IDR2.6 billion (US$128,373).
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