The newly-completed Davao City crematorium at the Wireless Cemetery is now in operation but only for Covid-19 related deaths giving relief to the handling of the bulk of referrals for the cremation of patients who died of the coronavirus disease.
The facility can cater four (4) cadavers per day and the charges for cremation services will be free.
Cremation is one of the components of the city’s Covid-19 response. Based on the guidelines of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Epidemiologist and Infectious Disease Specialist, the cadavers of patients that died due to the deadly virus has to be cremated or buried within 12 hours.
Mayor Inday Sara Duterte on Monday announced that the city crematorium has started its operation on February 4 and exclusively catering to Covid-19 related deaths for now.
“Sa karon, ang gina accommodate lang nato is all Covid-19 cadavers lang sa pero pag once mahuman na ang atong pandemic, then all kinds of cadavers referred to us for cremation maka accommodate na (For now, we only accommodate all Covid-19 cadavers but once the pandemic will be over, then all kinds of cadavers referred to us from cremation will be accommodated),” Mayor Sara said during her Special Hour over Davao City Disaster Radio.
Mayor Sara said that the private crematoria currently utilized for the cremation referral system of the city will still be utilized if the city’s crematorium cannot accommodate the bulk of referrals.
“Kung dili kayahon sa atoang crematorium ang bulk sa referrals for cadavers cremation, then we still utilize our private crematorium. To ensure nga naa gihapoy crematorium nga mag operate, we will operate on the days nga dili mag operate ang private nga crematorium (If our crematorium cannot handle the bulk of referrals for cadaver cremation, then we still utilize our private crematorium. To ensure that there will still be a crematorium that will operate, we will operate on the days that the private crematorium will not),” she said.
The construction of the city crematorium, located at the Davao Wireless Cemetery along Circumferential Road, was made possible with a budget allotment of ₱ 14.850 million under the Public Service Enhancement Program of the city and a portion of the Bayanihan 1 Grant from the national government.
As of February 7, the Department of Health (DOH) Davao Region has reported that Davao City has 1,399 active Covid-19 cases with a total of 10,999 recoveries and 573 deaths.
(City Information Office | Michael Manguhig, RPN DXKT Davao OIC)