As the escalating death toll and Covid-19 positive cases in St Vincent and the Grenadines is now a burning issue, former Prime Minister Sir James is proposing that government move swiftly to give funeral homes the nod to have cremation done here.
“They’re slowing down with the approval in St Vincent, I understand, of a funeral home to get going with cremation. I don’t know what we’re waiting on, you know. Who all want to do cremation should be approved,” Sir James said recently as he called the Issue at Hand interactive radio program on WE FM.
The former Prime Minister was at the time highlighting the issue of vaccination as it relates to the Coronavirus pandemic and the response by this and other countries.
“Anybody who does this thing they have to go for state-of-the-art equipment which is safe in all parts of the world. So we should get on and allow this cremation to start. We’re going to need it, for those who chose to go that way.
“I know a lot of great politicians that chose to go that way. My friend John Compton (late St Lucian Prime Minister) went that way and so on.
“So, it is a serious situation. And whether you like it or not, you get Covid,” the former St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister said.
Sir James underscored the importance of vaccination to the global fight against the deadly Coronavirus. To drive home his message, he used the example of how some funeral homes in the United States have been creatively using the vaccination and the pandemic in their advertisements.
“There is a big van in New York with three signs on it – the back and both sides – saying ‘Don’t get vaccinated.’ And advertising under it is a funeral home. A funeral home is advertising,” Sir James said, highlighting the importance of vaccination.
Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, calling to the same program immediately after, expressed total agreement.
“Well, I listened to every word that Sir James said in his own inimitable style and I agree with every single thing that he said… I agree with every single thing that he has said. I think he has spoken lucidly on the questions,” the current St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister said.
In a statement in September, Prime Miister Gonsalves said his government was bracing for a possible surge in the deadly Delta variant of the Coronavirus, hence the health ministry was stacking up on a number of essentials including ventilators and body bags.
“What are the things which are of focus for us? Ventilators, we have to see how many we have in our possession, those which are working, and we are ordering more. Oxygen; you see that problem in Jamaica?” he asked.
The Prime Minister read from a list of items which he said Chief Medical Officer Simone Keizer-Beache had prepared. Those items included IV stands, beds, wheelchairs, trolleys, sheets and suction machines and drugs, including hydrocortisone and anaesthetic agents and IV fluids.
“We are asking all the departments, all the different areas to check for body bags because you have to prepare and to make arrangements for the use of any refrigerated container,” the Prime Minister said.
NOTC