By Annisa Essack
02:06:2021

For years staff in Pietermaritzburg have been appealing to the KwaZulu Natal Health Department to fix the appalling conditions at the Fort Napier Legal Medico Mortuary. The forensic pathology staff at the mortuary went on strike in 2018, demanding a wage increase, back pay and better working conditions. Some were arrested. Workers say they were promised their demands would be attended to, and they went back to work.

In 2020, workers said that the already horrendous working conditions had only worsened. Six months later, nothing has changed as unclaimed bodies lie decaying in the mortuary for years. Since November 2020, only ten bodies were collected by local funeral companies. Staff complain about the unbearable stench that constantly lingers.

Presently, there is no hot water to clean utensils and no detergents. Staff use their soaps. The garbage has not been collected this year. More concerning is the staff struggle to obtain proper personal protective equipment.

But the list continues, as the X-ray machine which broke down last year is still out of order, the photocopier and kitchen equipment are out of order, and there are leaking pipes in the autopsy room and elsewhere on the premises. The mortuary still has only two operational cars.

“We have reported the matters to the management. As usual, they do not do anything”, said a staff member.

The department says that it has put out a tender, and a service provider has been provided to refurbish the facility. Two vehicles are being repaired, and more cars have been procured to the current fleet. Repairs to the X-ray machine are moving on rapidly.

Ground Up has reported that the department says it has “concluded all post-mortem examination investigations and is awaiting the allocation of burial space by the relevant municipal authority, so that such bodies may be interred.”