By Jim John
Over 10 corpses are still lying in the morgue at the Kiunga District Hospital in the North Fly District of Western Province.
This has resulted in the morgue space been filled to capacity since the beginning of this year.
According to health workers in Kiunga who requested anonymity, the new morgue established in 2022 has 12 cold cabinets currently in use and can only cater for 12 bodies.
In recent months, more deaths have been reported within the district and Western Province as a whole, hence dead bodies cannot be kept in the morgue.
The capacity of the power current supplied into the morgue is fluctuating causing the bodies to decompose.
It is understood the hospital has been receiving an average of 10 deaths per month, and bodies brought to the hospital are no longer fit to be kept in the morgue due to limited space.
According to morgue caretakers, they are doubling up the bodies which is not supposed to be done.
Health workers in Kiunga are calling on families, friends and loved ones of the deceased to do immediate repatriation of the bodies for burial.
As this issue continues, notices are being put on morgue area and the hospital, therefore, the public in North Fly District have been advised not to take dead bodies to morgue and can conduct burial at their respective villages.
The mortuary services in Kiunga have scaled down operations.
