MJC upset about mortuary backlog

THE Western Cape Department of Health has expressed concern about the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) asking people to sign the petition to urge the department to prioritise the release of Muslim bodies from mortuaries to the pre-agreed 24 hours.

Spokesperson Darren Francis said that the department would not be able to meet this demand despite having appointed six additional forensic pathology officers, one medical officer and two registrars to lessen the backlog at mortuaries in the province.

Mortuaries in Cape Town experienced a backlog with processing autopsies last October due to the high number of unnatural deaths which occurred and pathologists having to testify in court.

The department then met with the MJC to discuss the turnaround time which stood at six to seven days.

This was reduced to 2.5 and 3.5 days last month.

“At the close of the meeting with the MJC, we agreed that we aim to reduce the turnaround time further and there was an undertaking to stay in contact, and to follow up after the festive season to assess the situation.

“We have noted that reference in the petition is for ‘the pre-agreed’ 24 hours prioritisation of Muslim autopsies. We wish to confirm that we could not and still cannot give such an undertaking. The prioritisation of cases include the commitment to do post-mortems of people from the Muslim faith as soon as possible,” said Francis.

The MJC petition has more than 7 000 supporters, which MJC second deputy president and head of the cemetery management committee, Sheikh Riad Fataar said shows the disappointment by the Muslim community in the department’s lack of action.

“The petition was created because the department broke the agreement made with the MJC to reduce the turnaround time for those who died due to stray bullets or on the road. The agreement was broken because they don’t have enough resources.

“They knew the backlog would come because the Western Cape cut their budget in 2012. If you know the budget is being cut, you come up with a management plan. They failed the Muslim community because of that. The aim of the petition is to show that it’s not just an issue MJC is making a noise about, but it’s a community,” said Fataar.

THE AGREEMENT WAS BROKEN BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE ENOUGH RESOURCES