Bali Hospitals Cremate 25 Unclaimed Bodies

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Sanglah Public Hospital has recently cremated 25 neglected and unclaimed dead bodies that had been stored inside the hospital’s forensic room.

The General Organizational Planning Director of Sanglah Public Hospital, Dr. Ni Luh Dharma Kerti Natih confirmed that the hospital decided to cremate the neglected dead bodies to prevent over capacity inside the hospital’s facility. “This is actually an annual program to cremate the neglected bodies, so we’ll always have enough room for upcoming cases.” Dr. Kerti Natih said on Thursday (23/9).

Dr. Natih explained that Sanglah Hospital only provides this service for certain types of dead bodies. “This program only applies for unidentified dead bodies, or when there’s no family or relatives to claim the body and take them from the hospital. We even had one body that had been stored since 2019, which cost us around USD 183,000 (IDR 2,6 billion) for his medical treatments until he was confirmed dead.” Dr. Natih added.

However, she admitted that the number of bodies to be creamted has reduced in comparison with previous years as several social communities began to contribute and help the hospital to conduct the funeral process. “Several social communities would help us to conduct funerals on occasion if the body was able to be religiously identified, while the rest of them were cremated following Hindu traditions.” Dr. Natih concluded.