THE containerized freezer van that the Mandaue City Government purchased arrived on Monday, July 6, 2020.
The freezer van will be used as a mortuary freezer.
Mayor Jonas Cortes inspected the freezer van, which is still in Consolacion, Cebu. It will later be moved to the Mandaue City Hospital where it will be used as an extension of the morgue.
The P1.8 million freezer van can accommodate up to 40 cadavers.
The City decided to purchase one after the mayor learned that public cemeteries had limited slots for immediate burial and it would take days to dig another tomb.
In addition, crematory facilities in the city, particularly at the Rolling Hills Funeral Homes, can only accommodate four cremations per day, which resulted in long lines and reservations. Families have to wait five to seven days before the bodies of their deceased loved ones can be cremated.
Ideally, Cortes said, a cadaver needs to be cremated or be buried within 12 to 24 hours. If not, the cadaver needs to be placed in a freezer.
Some hospitals have a mortuary freeze but these charge between P8,000 and P10,000 per day, he said.
The mayor said the City will not charge for the use of the freezer van it purchased.
He also clarified that they will prioritize Covid-19 patients who died.
Cortes said the City has a partnership with Rolling Hills Funeral Homes to offer free crematory services to indigent families who died due to Covid-19.
Last month, the City Council approved the resolution authored by City Councilor Nerissa Soon-Ruiz requesting the mayor to purchase a mortuary freezer. (KFD)