Public Health Ministry Races To Deal With Corpses

[george]

Ministry of Public Health races to deal with corpses

PHANG-NGA: -- The Ministry of Public Health was today assigned responsibility for dealing with the hundreds of corpses which are still piling up along the Andaman coastline following Sunday’s tsunami tragedy.

With many of the bodies now beginning to decompose, Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said that her ministry had been asked by the government to take urgent action to prevent further delays.

Ministry officials will now compile a list of the dead, take as much information on each person as possible, and find locations to bury unidentified victims whose bodies have not been claimed by relatives.

Mrs. Sudarat confirmed that the bodies would not be cremated, and that the bodies of unidentified victims could be exhumed after burial for further investigation.

With the threat of disease now one of the biggest problems affecting the tsunami-hit areas, the public health minister said that she had ordered the Department of Disease Control and the Department of Health to set up standpipes and latrines for the survivors by tomorrow, and to ensure that basic medication reached the survivors.

The ministry is also mobilizing mobile medical units, which will operate in the six affected provinces until the situation has eased. These will be joined by medical volunteers from abroad, including Japan.

--TNA 2004-12-30

[pokie]

I am suprized that Toxin is keeping his mouth shut lately, he realy did not get the tourist worried

[cdnvic]

I was just listening to the news and apparently when the Thai Govt talked to ours they had only one request.... Bodybags, and lots of them.

Can anyone tell what efforts at sanitaion and cleanup are going on in the area?

cv

[chuchok]

I was just listening to the news and apparently when the Thai Govt talked to ours they had only one request.... Bodybags, and lots of them. 

Can anyone tell what efforts at sanitaion and cleanup are going on in the area?

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Almost the same as our government.A bunch of forensic doctors arrive today fron NZ.

[Lifelover]

Bodies Pose No Threat of Outbreaks

By ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer

Dead bodies cannot cause disease outbreaks, the Pan American Health Organization said Wednesday, hoping to avert mass burials of tens of thousands of unidentified victims from the tsunami in Asia and Africa.

There is no danger of corpses contaminating water or soil because bacteria and viruses cannot survive in dead bodies, said Dana Van Alphan, an adviser to the organization's Office of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief.

She said it was important for survivors to be allowed to identify loved ones and urged authorities in tsunami-stricken countries to avoid burying unidentified corpses in mass graves.

"I think that psychologically, people have to be given the chance to identify their family members," she said. "Whatever disease the person has while still alive poses no threat to public health in a corpse."

Van Alphan warned, however, that rescue officials handling recently deceased bodies should wear gloves to avoid contact with blood. But she emphasized that any bacteria or virus in the blood would die almost immediately in the open.

The death toll across 12 nations has approached 77,000, leaving officials desperate to dispose of decomposing corpses. Many officials already have resorted to mass burials, complicating efforts to identify victims and keep accurate death counts.

On Wednesday, officials in Indonesia's Aceh province bulldozed hundreds of bodies into pits, citing the smell and health concerns. No photographs of bodies were taken and no details of the corpses were recorded to help identify them later.

Officials in Indonesia — with a death toll at 45,268 — acknowledged they were making crude estimates, often taking the number of bodies in one mass grave and multiplying it by the number of graves.

Van Alphan urged officials to focus on providing clean water supply, saying the most immediate health threats were water-born diseases like cholera.

"I would recommend that the priority number one from public health point of view is to establish safe water supply," she said.

[tracer0]

I was just listening to the news and apparently when the Thai Govt talked to ours they had only one request.... Bodybags, and lots of them. 

Can anyone tell what efforts at sanitaion and cleanup are going on in the area?

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They are cleaning but unless your nose is dead or unless you want mud bathing (thanks to Phukets many buiding projects....) forget it.

When I have electric back and water anyone wanting a mudbath is welcome....

[tracer0]

/ offensive remarks removed.

Tracer you're warned to keep it clean here. I can understand if your emotional but have respect.

Edited December 30, 2004 by Darknight

[southern1]

I am suprized that Toxin is keeping his mouth shut lately, he realy did not get the tourist worried

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Darknight]

WHO: Corpses pose little threat

From CNN

CNN) -- Rotting corpses pose little threat to the health of survivors, and there is no need to rush to bury or cremate them, health officials have said.

"A person who dies is not, in themselves, a health threat to people around," Dr. David Nabarro, executive director for sustainable development and healthy environments at the World Health Organization, said Wednesday.

"After a number of hours, the pathogens inside the dead person's body become not dangerous. They usually decompose and die. And the dead person therefore is not a primary threat to the health of others."

While there might be other reasons not to wait to give the bodies a decent burial, "We should not be rushing to do mass burials for the sake of public health," he said.

Survivors faced the greatest risk of disease from exposure to feces or other contaminants produced by live people, Nabarro said, and that means it was critical for health officials to move quickly to provide survivors with clean drinking water and sanitation facilities.

"That must be given priority," he said.

The mistaken belief that decomposing bodies lead to outbreaks of diseases often leads authorities to undertake mass burials or cremations, which can add to the suffering of survivors, said Dr. Dana Van Alphen, an adviser to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is a regional office of WHO.

"In too many cases," said Van Alphen, "authorities rush to bury victims without identifying them, under the false belief that bodies pose a serious threat of epidemics. It is just not true."

The practice also violated the human rights of victims and survivors, she said.

Burials should be conducted so that the bodies could later be exhumed, health officials said.

Bodies should be buried at least a meter (three feet) below ground and far from water sources, according to "Infection Hazards of Human Cadavers," a chapter in "A Guide to Infection Control in the Hospital" (B.C. Decker Inc. 1998).

"The major hazard facing emergency service personnel is spilt blood and any risk can be greatly reduced by preventing contact with blood (use of gloves, face and eye protection, and protective clothing where necessary)," the authors wrote.

The major public health concern now is lack of potable water, Dr. Daniel Lopez-Acuna of PAHO said.

Contaminated water can lead to outbreaks of dysentery and cholera, malaria and dengue, he said.

"This is, without a doubt, the major problem we need to be looking at."

[southern1]

On Tuesday 28th December 2004.Thailand's infamous Pm,is reported as saying.Quote "all corpses in Thailand resulting from the tsunami would "ALL" be accounted for within the next two days"end of quote.This according to Thai English language radio news report.

Where on earth this man gets all this ridiculous information, to be able to forcast,wrongly, past and present time limits, God only knows.

[Darknight]

moved to subforum Tsunami, politics and economics, comments.

You can discuss the political implications there. Forum rules still apply , keep it respectfull.