After receiving numerous complaints, the Department of Employment & Labour has closed a government mortuary in Bloemfontein until further notice for violating the Occupational Health & Safety Act.
New bodies are to be processed at Welkom mortuary in the meantime.
The department said an inspection had resulted in four prohibition notices being issued, including one for water leakages “which could cause serious harm and fatalities if workers come into contact with exposed electrical wires”.
Three more notices related to failure to ensure a proper ventilation system in the post-mortem room and risking exposure to bio-aerosols, and “failing to mitigate against hazards associated with pathological services and sewage blockage …from post-mortem discharge”.
Provincial chief inspector Manelisi Luxande told The Citizen the facility would remain closed until the department “adequately implements corrective measures”.
Free State Department of Health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi said it was responding “as humanly and dignified as possible” to the handling of the bodies that are due to be processed through the mortuary.
“Arrangements have been made for those needing dissection to be taken to the Welkom Mortuary.”
He said bodies received from hospitals, accident scenes and private undertakers would be stored in fridges in the forensic pathology truck, which can hold at least 12 bodies overnight, while they are transported to the Welkom Mortuary before being returned the same day to families by private undertakers.
On the issues identified by the inspectors, he said a contractor was attending to all defects in electrical installations. “They have already identified that the air-condition/HVAC system and the electrical network were vandalised, and that the mortuary had lost tons of copper as a result of this.”
The blocked sewer pipes were being attended to, and regarding ventilation and extraction problems, the department was installing mobile air-conditioners.
On structural safety, engineers had unblocked the drainage system, while the waste fridge was to be replaced and quotations had already been sourced.
Bodies piling up
The Portfolio Committee on Health revealed last month that more than 3 000 unclaimed corpses were piling up in forensic pathology mortuaries countrywide.
As of August, 3 186 unclaimed corpses had been stored for periods ranging from five months to three years.
The Citizen article – Bloemfontein mortuary closed until further notice for violations (Open access)
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