Fort Canje mortuary fees under scrutiny amid public facility claims

Questions have surfaced over the collection of fees from families using the mortuary at Fort Canje, even as regional authorities maintain that the facility is jointly operated by the Government and the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG). The issue was raised at Thursday’s statutory meeting of the Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Regional Democratic Council (RDC), where questions were asked about the operation of facility located in the compound of the National Psychiatric Hospital. Unlike the mortuary at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital, where families are not required to pay for storage of the bodies, persons using the Fort Canje facility are required to pay a fee.
Regional Executive Officer (REO) Ronald Harsawack explained that the Fort Canje mortuary is neither a private facility nor one reserved for members of the Muslim community. “I should point out that it is not a private facility, nor is it a facility for just one religion to utilise. It is a public facility that we have entered into that MoU (memorandum of understanding),” Harsawack told the RDC.

According to the REO, in February 2022, the Guyana Government, through the Health Ministry signed an MoU with the CIOG for the provision of mortuary services to residents of Regions Five (Mahaica-Berbice) and Six. “Part of that MoU includes shared costs and shared responsibilities between the Ministry of Health and the CIOG,” he explained. Harsawack said the agreement places responsibilities on both parties. Under the arrangement, he said, the Government is required to provide some of the staffing at the facility, while the CIOG pays for morticians and three hearses stationed there. Government, meanwhile, meets operational and maintenance costs. “It is a joint operation between the CIOG and the Government. It is not a private facility, but it is a facility operated by the Ministry of Health and the CIOG,” the REO said. However, while his explanation provided some clarity on the management of the facility and the division of responsibilities between the Government and CIOG, it did not address several questions surrounding the fees being paid by families. No information was provided at the meeting on who collects those fees, where the money collected is deposited or ultimately goes, how the charges are determined, or precisely what services the payments cover. Neither did the explanation establish how the money collected is accounted for or whether the Government, CIOG or another entity receives the revenue and ultimately benefits from the fees. The issue is particularly significant given Harsawack’s insistence that the mortuary is a public facility and his disclosure that Government itself uses it as part of the public health system.
“We utilise it whenever there is a need or we exceed the capacity at the hospital; we utilise that storage facility as well,” he told councillors. That means the Fort Canje mortuary is also utilised when the storage capacity available to the public health system at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital is insufficient. Questions therefore remain over the for families needing to pay for storage at one facility being used by the public health system while no similar charge applies at the mortuary at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital. The present arrangement also represents a development from the manner in which the Fort Canje facility was originally presented to the public when construction began seven years ago.

New Amsterdam mortuary
In August 2019, the then Ministry of Public Health announced the construction of a $70 million mortuary in New Amsterdam, specifically stating that the facility would replace the existing mortuary at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital. The new mortuary was to be located in the National Psychiatric Hospital compound at Fort Canje. At the time, the Government said the 36-by-84-foot building, comprising approximately 3,000 square feet, would include a chapel for funeral services, a viewing area for post-mortem examinations (PME) and an administrative section. It was described by a Ministry engineer as a state-of-the-art facility and one which could serve as a template for similar facilities in the future. The project had been awarded to Andre Vincente Construction Services. Construction followed longstanding concerns about the condition and capacity of the mortuary at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital. The then Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, had visited the hospital in late 2018 and expressed dissatisfaction with the location and condition of the existing mortuary. Staff had also raised concerns about its capacity and working environment. Earlier in 2019, the old facility had reportedly been forced to close temporarily after it stopped functioning, resulting in serious concerns about the preservation of bodies. The new Fort Canje facility was therefore presented as the Government’s answer to those longstanding problems and as a replacement for the existing mortuary. However, by 2021, the arrangement surrounding the new facility had evolved.
Then Region Six Chairman David Armogan announced that a new mortuary in the National Psychiatric Hospital compound was expected to be opened as a partnership between the Government and CIOG. His comments came at a time when problems were continuing at the old New Amsterdam Hospital mortuary. Armogan had disclosed that its doors had lost their hinges and pieces of wood were being used to keep them closed, raising concerns about maintaining the temperatures required to properly preserve bodies.

CIOG involvement
The involvement of CIOG was subsequently formalised. On February 22, 2022, the Ministry of Health and CIOG signed the MoU for the management and operation of what was described at the time as the New Amsterdam Funeral Parlour. The agreement was signed on behalf of the Ministry by then Permanent Secretary (PS) Malcolm Watkins. It is now unclear whether the introduction of fees for families formed part of the 2022 MoU, whether the charges were introduced subsequently, who authorised them and how they are determined.
The terms of the MoU relating specifically to fees and revenue were not detailed during Thursday’s meeting. There was also no explanation as to why persons whose deceased relatives are accommodated at Fort Canje should have to pay when persons using the mortuary at the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital do not face a similar charge. Harsawack’s intervention has established that, despite CIOG’s involvement, the Fort Canje mortuary remains a public facility available to persons regardless of their religious affiliation and that its operation involves both Government and CIOG. It has also established that Government contributes staffing and bears operational and maintenance expenses, while CIOG meets other costs, including morticians and three hearses. However, the explanation has left unanswered the central questions surrounding the money being paid by grieving families: who collects the fees, where those monies go, how they are accounted for, who benefits from them and why a fee is being charged at a public mortuary that was originally conceived as the replacement for the New Amsterdam Regional Hospital mortuary.