By Cyrus M. Garde
BACOLOD City — The family of Ma. Gemma Oplas, a 45-year-old nurse, who died of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia had already accepted her fate.
Cadiz City assessor’s office employee Engr. Bonifacio Oplas, 45, said the death of her wife was painful but his family needed to accept the fact.
Bonifacio said Gemma became ill after attending to MERS-Cov patients in King Fahad Hospital.
On April 30, she was admitted to the hospital.
Bonifacio received a call from the hospital telling him to fix his documents for Riyadh, but on May 6, her wife died.
Her immune system was weak. She previously had an operation to remove her gallstone and was also asthmatic, he said.
He was asked by the hospital if he would allow them to bury his wife in Riyadh, but he requested for repatriation.
Bonifacio, now left with their 13-year-old daughter, said the repatriation was not easy.
Most airline agencies refused to carry the body of MERSCoV victims, he said.
Bonifacio was relieved when the Philippine Airlines agreed to carry his wife’s body back to the country in one of its direct flights.
Gemma was once a nurse at the Cadiz City Emergency Clinic. She had also worked at the Cadiz City Administrator’s Office.
She went to Riyadh to work as a nurse in 2001 and only went home once in 2005, Bonifacio recalled.
Her body arrived in Bacolod-Silay International Airport at around 5 p.m. on Sept. 4.
Her family wanted to bury her at The Garden Memorial Park, but the management did not allow them.
As ordered by the Department of Health, her body — sealed in a steel casket from Riyadh—was directly brought to Rolling Hills Memorial Park for burial./PN
