Jim John
As a result of power fluctuation since April this year, dead bodies kept in Kiunga District Hospital in the North Fly District of Western Province mortuary decay.
There are 16 cabinets used to cool dead bodies, however due to power fluctuation, four out of the 16 cabinets are faulty.
The remaining 12 cabinets cannot cater for the number of dead bodies brought in so they are piling them on top of each other.
According to morgue caretakers, some bodies have been frozen into solid ice resulting in cold cabinets untidy.
Families and relatives from remote villages in the Middle Fly District, Nomad and other remotest part of Western Province only access small planes to reach their places and are still awaiting response from their leaders in regards to financial support to repatriate the bodies, hence their loved ones are still kept in the morgue.
The hospital management team advised locals in the North Fly District that if their love ones pass on, they should not take the body to the morgue rather can do immediate burial at their own villages.
As this issue continues, locals say the morgue needs extension to create more rooms to cater for more dead bodies and also the Kiunga District Hospital needs to be upgraded to a General Hospital with improved medical equipment and better clinical services.
Attempts to get comments from Western Provincial Health Authority were unsuccessful.
