Unclaimed bodies in mortuaries

THE remains of 17 Komani Psychiatric Hospital patients in Queenstown remain unidentified and unclaimed as the Eastern Cape Health Department appeals to anyone missing a relative to get in touch.

“We have a big problem with homeless mentally ill patients roaming the streets in this province,” departmental spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.

“Patients are often brought to Ko- mani by members of the public,” he said.

The other reason for unidentified patients was that their relatives dumped them at a hospital to gain access to their social grants.

An audit of the province’s mortuaries found no unclaimed bodies at Dora Nginza Hospital’s mortuary. There were isolated cases of other unidentified bodies at other hospitals, but there were two unidentified stillborn babies at Queenstown’s Frontier Hospital.

Kupelo said there was a suspicion that the babies might have been stillborn following botched late-term abortions.

If families did not have the money to pay for burials, he said, special arrangements could be made with the local municipality to organise a funeral.

Nelson Mandela Bay’s public health committee reports that the municipality facilitated 76 applications for pauper burials in the past year.

Kupelo said people who suspected that a relative of theirs might be in a state hospital mortuary could call 0800323-64.