By Umamah Bakharia 

The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has urged KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu to immediately intervene at the Phoenix State Mortuary.

This follows reports that bodies are piling up on the floor because of overcrowding.

One father, Karl Dauth, in a Facebook post, wrote about his agony of finding his son’s body lying on the floor at the Phoenix State Mortuary for days.

This morning, he received his son’s body after the Deputy mayor’s intervention.

Speaking to Radio Islam, DA’s Dr Rishigen Viranna says this is a devastating reality facing the people of Phoenix following the floods in the province.

She says there are factors that are leading to the overcrowding in the mortuary. These include the floods that occurred in KZN that resulted in massive water outages, the passing away of people that have been regarded as ‘unnatural deaths’ according to the law require post mortem and the decrease in staff to perform post mortems.

Allegations claim that families are paying the mortuary for bodies to be released.

“It is completely unacceptable and inhumane that such events are happening at the mortuary,” says Dr Viranna.

The DA is calling for an investigation into these allegations at the Phoenix mortuary.