Dr Andrew Arkutu, Managing Director of the Lashibi Funeral Homes Limited has called for the adoption of cremation as an option for the disposal of dead bodies instead of burial
He said apart from the cost of burial being higher, cremation had other benefits for the society, adding that "It is more environmentally friendly and also takes up very little space".
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday, he said a dead person's body begins to decompose immediately death occurs and even though embalming delays the process of decomposition, it does not stop it.
The Managing Director explained that the rate at which the body decomposes varies, depending on factors such as exposure to water, the presence of oxygen and activities of worms, bacteria and insects, adding that under normal conditions, after burial it took about 15 years for the body to decompose completely.
Dr Arkutu said in contrast, cremation took only about three hours for the whole body, including the skeleton to be reduced to ashes.
He further explained that cremation was the process of applying extreme heat of temperature of up to 1000 Degree Celsius to the body.
Dr Arkutu said because water makes up 75 per cent of the human body, with the extreme heat, the water breaks down into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen, which simply evaporate into the atmosphere.
He said the cremation of an adult body weighing about 100 kilogrammes, was reduced to only three kilogrammes of remains, which is referred to as 'ashes', made up mainly of the calcium from the big and long bones of the skeleton including the skull, spine, pelvis arms and legs.
Even though cremation has been practised for centuries, it was still a subject of religious dispute. Cremation was the preferred method of disposing of the body among Hundus, Buddists and the Asian religion. Most Christian churches, including the Catholic openly support cremation," he added.
He said the Home has introduced post-mortem examination and funeral plan services into their products to reduce the amount of stress and frustration entailed in organizing funerals.
Some of the services offered include embalming, custodial care, cremation, repatriation of bodies to and from Ghana, production of funeral programmes and obituaries, sale of caskets, coffins and urns, hearse services and pall bearers.
Dr Arkutu urged the youth to take the funeral plan policy in order to cater for their families in times of death.