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Health department appeals to families to contact mortuaries for missing relatives

Mortuary
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The Gauteng Health Department is appealing to families who have missing loved ones to contact the provinces mortuaries to view unidentified bodies.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng called on the department to establish an internet site where families can identify the bodies of their loved ones.

It has been reported that over a 1000 bodies remain unidentified in government mortuaries in the Gauteng province.

Acting CEO of Forensic Medical Services in Gauteng Dr Mosou Morule said, “The problem is that most of the unclaimed bodies are of people not residing in Gauteng.”

He said after DNA and fingerprint tests are concluded, the person is classified as unclaimed and is buried by the state after 30 days.

“The normal trend is people who die in Gauteng normally would be coming from outlying areas and some from beyond the borders of this country. After trying all the available means the body is still unidentified, unclaimed and if this period exceeds 30 days then these bodies are given paupers funeral or buried by the state,” added Morule.

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