Brokers Transfer Algerians' Dead Bodies From Tunisia With 210.000 DZD

Families of many Algerian patients, who die in Tunisia, express anger of what they describe as the blatant blackmail, which they are subjected to by Tunisian brokers who deal with employees in Tunis, paying up to 210.000 DZD to bury the dead relatives in Algeria.

A number of people from families of patients who died in Tunisia, told Echorouk that their affliction is abhorred once the Tunisian hospital departments teach them about the death of their relatives, until the dilemma of transferring the dead bodies to Algeria begins.
“We are going to the headquarters of the Algerian consulate in Tunis, in Bab al-Khadra neighborhood, to find some one to help us in the consular services”.
“Some workers provide us with phone numbers of Tunisians who companies for health transfer and they tell us that they will take care of all the procedures. Families of the deceased do not find solution due to their circumstances and the pressure of the relatives to expedite the transfer of the dead bodies to Algeria, asking the families of the deceased to pay money in the national currency that reach sometimes up to 150.000 DZD cash”.
This is what happened when a patient “R.N” dies in Tunisia, his parents paid a huge sum of money in exchange for all the procedures from the beginning at the general prosecutor’s services and then the police in Tunisia, until the reception of the body from the hospital management and its transfer in an ambulance initially and then, the dead body is transferred to the cars of Algerians, because Tunisian laws require the transfer of bodies in ambulances.
Kids dead bodies are also subject to blackmail by the “brokers”, as one of the parents paid 120.000 DZD to transfer the body of his daughter “M.S”, which was just 9 years old after she died in a hospital in Tunis.
If the deceased family is forced to transfer the body by the Tunisian transport company, while providing guarantees of all the procedures for the transfer of the dead bodies, they pay sums of up to 210.000 DZD.
However, according to a number of members of the charity association in El Oued province (southern Algeria), which is interested in supporting the families of patients who are treated in Tunisia, the branch consulate in the Tunisian city of Gafsa deals with the families of the Algerian deceased within its jurisdiction, in the south of Tunisia, where it take care of all the administrative procedures for transfering the dead bodies, without forcing their parents to pay. Moreover, the consular services in Gafsa provide financial assistance to the deceased from poor families to cover the expenses of the deceased’s dinner.
Echorouk contacted the Algerian General Consulate General in Tunis. An official charged with listening at the consulate level said that the mentioned services did not refer any Algerian citizen to Tunisian brokers, and denied that nationals or expatriates from Algeria went to the consulate for assistance in this regard.