The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Mbale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Budaka District COVID-19 Taskforce has raised a red flag over reports that relatives of COVID-19 victims are exhuming their bodies at night to accord them “befitting burials”.
Local leaders in Budaka town council and Kachomo Sub County claim that some residents exhume the bodies in the middle of the night claiming that they are tormented by the spirits of the deceased, who claim that they were not buried well and feel the heat because of the bodybags, they were buried in.
Other residents claim that their loved ones didn’t succumb to COVID-19 but are rather victims of witchcraft and so need to be accorded decent burials.
Tom Chesol, the Budaka Resident District Commissioner, says that through intelligence they have received reports from concerned residents that relatives of the COVID-19 victim are stealthily exhuming their bodies deep in the night.
He asked local council leaders to increase their vigilance to ensure that the perpetrators of the vice are arrested.
Pauline Ahaisibwe, the acting Budaka District Police Commander, says that police deployed in two sub-counties after getting information from the concerned residents. She said that they are now hunting for the mastermind of the move.
Abdul Rashid, the LC I Chairperson of Budaka township said one of his stepson he only identified as Kassim had mobilized other relatives to exhume the body of his brother, which was buried on Friday last week on grounds that the late did not die of COVID-19.
Jenifer Naloongo, the Budaka Town Council Women Affair’s Secretary condemned the vice, saying it undermines the efforts of the government to combat the spread of the virus. She urged the district authorities to involve the local leaders in the fight against the vice and enforcement of Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs that many residents take lightly.
On Friday, the Ministry of Health said that burial teams are not necessary when burying COVID-19 victims. According to the health ministry, family members do not need to pay for burial teams because the bodies are disinfected and placed in body bags, which is supposed to reduce any possibility of infections.
The Health Minister, Jane Aceng, said that once someone succumbs to COVID-19, the bodies are disinfected in the presence of family members in the mortuaries before being placed in a body bag, sealed and handed over to the families for burial.
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