KOTA KINABALU, Feb 9 — The Sabah State Health Department (JKNS) and all hospitals statewide do not impose fees for the funeral arrangements of those who died of COVID-19, said state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
However, Masidi, who is also the state COVID-19 spokesman, said family members could choose to use the services of companies authorised to handle funeral arrangements and which charged certain fees, with the process regulated by JKNS officers.
“This is totally up to the family members involved. So, I urge that no one will exploit or manipulate the situation to reap profits from the grieving families,” he told a media conference yesterday.
Masidi said this when commenting on allegations, which had gone viral on Facebook, about families having to pay RM6,000 for the bodies of their loved ones, who died of COVID-19, to be sent to their hometowns.
Meanwhile, Masidi confirmed that, as of today, COVID-19 cases had been detected in 102 out of the 221 secondary schools in the state.
This, he said, included SM St Michael in Penampang, with five students and four teachers testing positive. The case started from family contact.
According to Masidi, the eight schools in Sandakan that had been closed previously when 14 teachers and four students tested positive for COVID-19 had been reopened.
