Mortuary crisis abating
Cooperation between the Windhoek municipality, the police and the health ministry has started to show results in emptying overburdened mortuaries.
A total of 114 unclaimed bodies from the state and police mortuaries in Windhoek have been cremated since April, slowly but surely reducing the critically high number of bodies stuffed into cold-storage facilities.
In line with what was last year described by police officials as a “catastrophic” issue, deputy minister of safety and security Daniel Kashikola recently informed parliament that the ministry had made provision for another mortuary within the police forensic science building that is under construction.
He said the new facility would help to alleviate the problem but not necessarily solve it.
“We don't want to claim that this will eliminate the problems as no one can predict with certainty how many deaths requiring police investigation will occur from time to time,” he said.
Kashikolo added that the issue of unclaimed bodies was directly related to cooperation from members of the public who should collect the remains of their relatives.
He added that the safety ministry had reached out to the office of the attorney-general as well as the health ministry to resolve the issue earlier this year.
“The legislation currently in force already addresses the situation. As a result, the ministry of health and social services will continue with these burials.”
City of Windhoek spokesperson Lydia Amutenya this week confirmed that 114 bodies from the mortuary had been cremated between April and September.
She said the cremation of bodies from the health ministry and police was prioritised and specific days were set aside for these cremations.
It was unclear how long it would take to eliminate the backlog of unclaimed bodies, some which date back to 2009, Amutenya said.
“This cannot be established at the moment, because the process is ongoing and bodies are brought in daily,” she said.
In July 2016, Namibian Sun reported that 180 unclaimed bodies were lying in the morgue, which was designed to hold 24 corpses.
At least 10 post-mortems could not be performed at the time because of the overcrowding.
In April this year, the health ministry said 390 unclaimed bodies at the state and police mortuaries needed to be cremated. The expected cost was N$164 700, the ministry said.
JANA-MARI SMITH
In line with what was last year described by police officials as a “catastrophic” issue, deputy minister of safety and security Daniel Kashikola recently informed parliament that the ministry had made provision for another mortuary within the police forensic science building that is under construction.
He said the new facility would help to alleviate the problem but not necessarily solve it.
“We don't want to claim that this will eliminate the problems as no one can predict with certainty how many deaths requiring police investigation will occur from time to time,” he said.
Kashikolo added that the issue of unclaimed bodies was directly related to cooperation from members of the public who should collect the remains of their relatives.
He added that the safety ministry had reached out to the office of the attorney-general as well as the health ministry to resolve the issue earlier this year.
“The legislation currently in force already addresses the situation. As a result, the ministry of health and social services will continue with these burials.”
City of Windhoek spokesperson Lydia Amutenya this week confirmed that 114 bodies from the mortuary had been cremated between April and September.
She said the cremation of bodies from the health ministry and police was prioritised and specific days were set aside for these cremations.
It was unclear how long it would take to eliminate the backlog of unclaimed bodies, some which date back to 2009, Amutenya said.
“This cannot be established at the moment, because the process is ongoing and bodies are brought in daily,” she said.
In July 2016, Namibian Sun reported that 180 unclaimed bodies were lying in the morgue, which was designed to hold 24 corpses.
At least 10 post-mortems could not be performed at the time because of the overcrowding.
In April this year, the health ministry said 390 unclaimed bodies at the state and police mortuaries needed to be cremated. The expected cost was N$164 700, the ministry said.
JANA-MARI SMITH
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