KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — The Osaka health office in Japan has admitted its mistake for using envelopes with details of a funeral home to mail information packets to Covid-19 patients.
The office said the envelopes were part of a fundraising initiative they started with the home in 2006, Tokyo-based news site SoraNews24 reported.
“We used envelopes we had at the time, without being conscious of the potential problems,” the site quoted the office’s spokesman as saying.
An Osaka City’s accounting division spokesman said use of the envelopes was not on purpose.
“We did not show proper consideration,” the spokesman admitted.
According to the news site, the funeral home’s information was pasted at the back of the envelope.
“The company’s free consultation services promises to explain pricing and options to give clients a concrete image of what kind of funeral the company can provide,” said the news site.
One of the recipients told the news site he felt his energy drain away upon receiving the envelope.
“I felt so hopeless. It was like my very existence was being denied, and every time I think about it, I start to cry.”
“This kind of carelessness can be a source of psychological distress for people who are infected,” he said.
The health office is now in the process of obtaining new envelopes without the funeral service ads.
