The Eastern Cape Health Department says it is considering seeking assistance from the private sector regarding the bodies piling up at their forensic facilities. This is due to many deaths from stabbings and vehicle crashes during this festive season.
A number of bodies have not been collected by their loved ones. Victims of crashes and stabbings are also brought into the forensic facilities.
The department has appealed to relatives not to delay in collecting the bodies after the autopsy is done.
“The department is experiencing serious challenges with regards to a number of bodies that are being kept in our forensic facilities across the province, particularly in Mthatha where we went beyond the capacity of 37 to 79 bodies. Now we are appealing to relatives of those people who have died during the Christmas weekend to please collect their bodies. On the other had we are thinking of engaging with the private funeral parlours to assist the government in keeping some of the bodies,” said provincial health spokesperson, Sizwe Kupelo.
Kupelo has also urged relatives to refrain from setting burial dates before an autopsy is done.
“Now we want to appeal to people that families shouldn’t arrange or set funeral dates before the autopsy has been confirmed, because this also puts unnecessary pressure on us on top of the crisis that we are facing. Normally in the Mthatha facility we keep 37 bodies and we have doubled the number. We have moved from performing six autopsies per day to fourteen autopsies a day.”
Vuyani Mandla’s family is one of the families preparing to bury their loved one this weekend. But there’s a problem. He has discovered that the autopsy has not been done.
A family member says, “He was taken on Friday night and was brought here because he was shot. We were told to come on Wednesday, we came and were told the doctor will perform six autopsies because there’s only one doctor and we were told to come today. We are here and the autopsy hasn’t been done. We will be disappointed if we don’t receive the body today, we will have to stop everything and not have the burial.”
The department is now worried that the problem will not go away as they approach yet another busy weekend.
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