About 10km from Sg Buloh Hospital, the treatment facility for patients with severe Covid-19, a Muslim cemetery in Kg Merbau Sempak is rapidly filling up with the bodies of victims of the disease.

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It is where 51-year-old gravedigger Mohd Rahim Talib carries out the unenviable task of burying the dead.

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Yet unlike municipal grave-diggers, who were vaccinated against the virus in the first phase of the national immunisation campaign, Rahim, a gravedigger for 35 years, said he is still waiting for shots.

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“Although I have recently received an appointment date for vaccination, there are many village gravediggers like me, the last handlers of Covid-19 victims, who are still waiting to be inoculated,” he said.

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Fellow gravedigger Mat Nor Saibani Bunari, 54, is still waiting for his appointment.

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Mat Nor said he was afraid to handle the Covid-19 bodies at first, but has grown accustomed to it after having to deal with it daily.

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Rahim said the gravediggers live in fear of infection, not only for themselves but their families at home.

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This is despite the Health Ministry’s guidance on how they can protect themselves from the coronavirus. Rahim said officials are present at Covid-19 burials to ensure health protocols, such as the correct employment of personal protective equipment, are followed.

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Still, he said the risk of infection remains as long as one is unvaccinated.

Rahim hopes the government will speed up vaccination, especially for village gravediggers. - June 10, 2021.