News
Sri Lanka begins manufacturing its own body bags
17 Nov, 2020
By Indika Sri Aravinda
The Ministry of Health has decided to manufacture body bags used for the disposal of bodies of victims who have died due to COVID-19, at hospitals in Sri Lanka.
Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena told Colombo Gazette that locally manufacturing body bags was cost effective for Sri Lanka, as per body bag is estimated to cost only Rs. 450.
Earlier, a stock of body bags had been provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a gift, but were used to dispose the bodies of victims of the Easter Sunday terror attacks that occurred in April 2019.
As there is a demand for body bags world over at present it is an arduous task to acquire stocks for Sri Lanka.
Dr. Asela Gunawardena said therefore, a decision has been taken to locally manufacture the body bags at main hospitals in the country.
When inquired if a tender has been announced for international bidders for the manufacturing of body bags, Dr. Gunawardena stated that no such tender has been announced by him for this process.
Meanwhile, an official from the Health Ministry said that an attempt by the Ministry to obtain 1000 body bags from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on an earlier occasion had caused outrage among the public.
As a result, the ICRC had not provided the requested stock of body bags, the official added. (Colombo Gazette)
Recommended For You
