Body count reaches crisis level

At least ten post-mortems cannot be performed at the police mortuary in Windhoek this week because of a severely overcrowded cold room.
The room is designed to hold 24 bodies but it now holds 180.
During a visit to the police mortuary yesterday, journalists were informed that most of the 180 bodies are unclaimed and there is no money to bury or cremate them.
During a brief look inside the cold room, bodies could be seen piled on top of each other, on trolleys and on the floor, as mortuary technicians desperately tried to find space.
Several staff members said this situation is undignified and pleaded with the public to claim the bodies of their relatives and give them a dignified burial.
A mortuary technician said 10 bodies in line for post-mortems to determine the cause of death could not be transferred from the state hospital mortuary because of a lack of space.
Deputy Commissioner Jooste Mbandeka, head of the Namibian Police’s forensic pathology division, described the situation at the mortuary as “catastrophic”, noting that in his more than two decades working at the mortuary “it was never like this.”
He explained that the facility was designed to store 24 fresh bodies in addition to six decomposed bodies.
A police statement this week urgently called on Namibians who are missing relatives to come forward and identify the bodies in order to make space for new bodies.
The police furthermore asked that people who have neglected to collect the bodies of family members do so immediately.
Dr Paul Ludik, head of the National Forensic Science Institute, yesterday said the root cause of the overcrowded police mortuary is friends and relatives who don’t claim bodies.
He said the mortuary is meant for temporary storage until post-mortems can be performed. Once a death certificate is issued, a directive is issued to remove the body as soon as possible.



Ludik said mortuary staff are very resourceful in ensuring that friends and family of the deceased are made aware that the body is at the mortuary. “We are exhaustive in our approach,” he said.
However, as unclaimed bodies pile up, Ludik said it starts affecting the mortuary’s operations.

‘No money’

Although a 2010 regulation, gazetted by the Ministry of Health and Social Services, stated that unclaimed bodies older than 14 days should be buried, Mbandeka explained that the police do not have a budget for burial or cremation services.
Yet, the mortuary is the final stop for all people who die of unnatural causes in the Khomas Region. Often, bodies from other regions are also sent to the central police mortuary.
Mbandeka explained that the City of Windhoek used to pay for the burial of unclaimed bodies, but that is not the case anymore. He could not say why the municipality stopped assisting with burials.
By the time of going to press, the City of Windhoek had not responded to questions in this regard.
Mbandeka said that following numerous requests for assistance, police authorities informed the mortuary that an arrangement was being considered to solve the problem. He could not elaborate further.
Ludik confirmed this, saying that the government was aware of the problem and was considering budgeting for cremations.
A further issue raised yesterday is that the overcrowded mortuary could pose a health risk. A doctor who often works there said the refrigerator has not been overhauled since before independence, and overcrowding makes it less effective.
The doctor and several staff members confirmed that the worsening smell in the building is the result of decomposition.
The doctor said the government must urgently provide a budget to cremate unclaimed bodies and upgrade the facility.
Ludik said there is no risk of infection spreading beyond the cold room, as it was specifically designed to hold bodies.
But Deputy Commissioner Mbandeka said the overpowering smell is indicative that “something is not right”. He said a mortuary is supposed to be “cleaner than a hospital and it is supposed to have a natural smell. But that is currently not the case”.

JANA-MARI SMITH