"They laid the body on the asphalt and decided to rest." A Minsk resident is outraged by the state funeral service
Minsk resident Ksenia published a lengthy post on Threads, in which she shared her experience of cooperating with the state organization that provides funeral services on Olshevskogo Street, BGmedia noted .
Photo: vecteezy.com
According to her, after her father's sudden death, the family hoped that the state service would work professionally and organized. However, the girl claims, the cost of services turned out to be no less than that of private companies, and the attitude of the employees left a difficult impression.
"We regretted a thousand times that we contacted them"
In her post, Ksenia recounts that her father died on June 23rd. The man had a second group disability and weighed about 200 kilograms due to heart disease.
According to the woman, at night the dispatcher informed them that the body would only be taken in the morning due to its large weight. In the morning, the family was assigned an agent and two teams – six people – were dispatched.
However, further on, the Minsk resident claims, the situation developed completely differently from what they expected: "We regretted a thousand times that we contacted them. We hoped that a state organization would work as it should, but no."
According to her, while one employee was busy with paperwork, the others did not carry the body by hand but dragged it:
"Upon arrival, one of them started filling out the contract, while the other five people pulled the body from the carpet onto a bag and, without even lifting it, dragged it across the floor, down the stairs, and across the asphalt to the car."
The woman claims that before loading, the employees simply laid the body on the asphalt and decided to rest.
"How is this possible? How can one treat the deceased so disrespectfully in front of their relatives?" she writes.
"Funeral only in a week"
After this, the family went to the organization's office on Olshevskogo Street, where they met with an agent. However, according to the girl, they were immediately invited to the deputy head's office, who began speaking in a rude manner. There, the family was informed that the funeral could only be organized on June 30th, almost a week after the father's death. The reasons cited were the absence of a second team of employees and the long coffin manufacturing time.
According to the woman, they were also offered to find four to five people themselves who would help wash, dress the deceased, carry the coffin to the car, and at the cemetery.
In addition, the family was informed that the body would be buried in a closed coffin because, it was claimed, the organization did not have enough sanitarians to prepare the deceased for the farewell.
Father's wish could only be fulfilled after contacting private companies
A separate problem, according to Ksenia, was cremation.
She recounts that this was her father's last will, but the state organization informed them that due to its large size, the coffin would not fit into the crematorium furnace. Instead, the family was offered burial in Lesnoye Cemetery.
When the relatives started looking for another coffin, the employee, according to the woman, suggested that they pay for the already arranged services and contact another organization.
"Which is what we ultimately did. There, we were treated with understanding, respect, and compassion. The coffin was made overnight, and the cremation issue was resolved," Ksenia wrote.
At the end of the post, she admitted that she still cannot calm down after this situation.