Mass burial of bodies

TWENTY-EIGHT body parts amputated from patients are among a list of 97 bodies that will be included in a paupers burial if relatives don’t claim the bodies before next week.
In a full page advertisement from the Port Moresby General Hospital, full names of dead people and those who had parts of their bodies amputated were named so that relatives and those concerned could claim the bodies and organise a decent burial.
A total of 97 bodies and 28 body parts will be buried en masse by the hospital in conjunction with National Capital District Commission to clear the morgue.
Of the 97 bodies including 32 babies and four children, 24 have decomposed beyond recognition.
The decomposed bodies had produced a terrible stench which had people living near the morgue complaining.
The freezer in a refrigerated storage container broke down last year and the bodies decomposed.
Chief executive officer of the Port Moresby General Hospital Dr Alphonse Tay in the notice said the hospital in conjunction with the NCDC was preparing to carry out a paupers burial of all unclaimed bodies and body parts which had been in the morgue since the beginning of last year.
He urged relatives to come forward and collect the bodies so that they could be given a decent burial.
Failure to do that will result in the planned paupers burial next week.
The majority of the bodies listed were from the Goilala District of the Central Province.
Meanwhile a new storage container bought by the hospital is working well and the decomposed bodies have been transferred to the container but this will be as a temporary measures.

Our View: This is not the first time this has happened, and it keeps on getting it pushed under the carpet. A bigger morgue should be build, and there should be a time frame for how long bodies can be kept. Bodies could be incinerated and the ashes buried properly with much respect for the souls.