Wazim Ramjattan’s body was uncovered
Kaieteur News – The body of Wazim Ramjattan, who was mistakenly buried by the wrong family on April 4, was exhumed yesterday for identification.
Kaieteur News would have reported that Ramjattan was buried, last Wednesday, after being mistakenly identified as another man, Imtiaz Umar, at the Memorial Gardens funeral home. He had died on March 29 in the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation as a result of COVID-19, and sent his body to Memorial Gardens, where burial preparations were to take place.
After a lengthy process to obtain the documents necessary to view Wazim’s body, Mr Ramjattan’s family had gone to Memorial Gardens where they learned that Umar’s family had been there earlier and had identified Wazim’s body as their own relative and buried him; In turn, Umar’s body was presented to the Ramjattan family as Wazim’s body.
After the story was exposed in the media, Wazim Ramjattan’s body was unearthed yesterday from Vergenoegen Cemetery, West Coast Demerara. According to Manisha Ramjattan, Wazim’s sister, only one family member – the deceased’s brother-in-law – was allowed by the environmental health liaison officers to view and identify the body.
Ms Ramjattan told Kaieteur News, “We had some kind of closure even though it wasn’t enough. We are grateful for the closure and justice offered by the people who made it possible, especially a ‘tall man’ from the Memorial Gardens Parlor, who tried his best to help us find closure. “
She also relayed to Kaieteur News that the family is still speculating that Mr Umar’s late family would have intentionally buried the wrong person – Ramjattan was 35 at the time of his death while Umar was ten years older.
Kaieteur News asked Ms Ramjattan whether her family was able to bury the body closer to home, as they had hoped, and responded that the health environmental officer had told them about the burial site not to move the body, in accordance with national COVID-19 protocols. He said he would insert a headstone at the place where Wazim is buried at the family’s request, even though her brother is buried far from home.