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Bodies decompose in mortuary

Written by Marcus Tawona

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 08:42

MASVINGO - Bodies are decomposing at Masvingo General hospital as the mortuary is now in a dilapidated state. According to hospital officials, it has a carrying capacity of 10 bodies but is carrying over 40.
Officials told The Zimbabwean last week that compressors were out of order – precipitating the decomposition of bodies. “The situation has gone out of hand. People are still coming to place their beloved one here due to high fees being charged by the private morgues. The mortuary is no longer a cold room anymore,” said an official.
The situation has been worsened by the high number of deaths due to HIV and AIDS pandemic and delays by relatives to collect their departed ones.
Said one official: “Due to high costs of running a funeral, people are taking time to collect bodies. By the time they make proper arrangements to bury their relatives the body would have decomposed beyond recognition such that we have to locate a body using name tags”.
A bereaved family member who had just collected a body described the situation at the mortuary as ‘atrocious’.
“Air condition is not working properly, the smell is too much and bodies are just piling up on top of another and flies buzzing everywhere. It took us time to locate our loved one,” said Munotida Bhunu from Zaka.
The medical superintendant was not available for comment.

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