Unclaimed bodies clog up mortuary
MORE than 60 bodies are lying unclaimed at the Magwaza Maphalala (Gale) Street Mortuary for the past year, posing a serious health risk to workers.
Staff claim that some of the corpses, in various stages of decomposition, are leaking fluid which is hazardous to their health.
“People think that we strike for no reason and many say we must be grateful that we have jobs. But we work long hours in these conditions and are not properly compensated. Our health is at risk as bodies are piling up,” said one employee.
“The Department of Health was meant to ensure that unclaimed bodies received a pauper’s burial within three months, but this has not happened.”
Another employee said some of the workers fell ill and had to be medically boarded.
“We have a safety uniform that comes with a hat, glasses, pants and a shirt. It is meant to protect us from bacteria and disease that may develop in the morgue.
“These items are worn only once and then disposed of, but these uniforms are in short supply. We are forced to wear them repeatedly.”
He said that apart from the psychological effects of working with dead bodies, the job was exhausting.
“We can go through 20 or more postmortems a day. Families demand that it must be done, because of religious rites. We are overworked.”
A third worker said: “The public needs to understand why we strike and down tools.”
While their salary and grading disputes are being addressed, the staff, who recently returned to work after a strike, said being labelled “inhumane” by the public was “hurtful and unwarranted”.
Ahmed Paruk, from the Islamic Burial Society, said: “The Department of Health needs to focus its attention on improving the lives of the living and providing dignity to the dead.”
Logan Chetty, of the KZN Funeral Directors Association, added: “The industry as a unit needs to be regulated and this can only happen if the department is willing to listen to our solutions.”
Department of Health spokesperson, Ncumisa Mafunda, said the salary and grading disputes had been addressed.
“We will meet with the stakeholders to discuss the other issues.”
She confirmed there were “human mortal remains that are unaccounted for”.
“This is not a fault of the department, as various attempts are made on an ongoing basis to locate their relatives. We are not always successful. However, once we are satisfied that all avenues to find relatives are exhausted, a pauper’s burial is then conducted. In fact, there are arrangements to conduct pauper’s burials for some of these bodies next month.”
She categorically denied there was a short supply of essential uniform items for the employees.
“There are sufficient quantities of post-mortem headgear (hats), gloves, post mortem overshoes, two-piece suits, headgear to protect them against the sun, uniforms, shoes and boots. Wind-breaker jackets for winter will be procured during the 2019/2020 financial year.”
Mafunda added the department had no knowledge of employees who were medically boarded.
“We urge all our employees to utilise existing internal channels or organised labour to air any grievances that they may have,” she said.