Princess Margaret Hospital. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune staff
By EARYEL BOWLEG
Tribune Staff Reporter
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
THE Public Hospitals Authority has renewed its appeal for people to collect stored bodies at Princess Margaret Hospital’s morgue, saying the facility has more than 150 bodies in storage - over its maximum capacity of 66.
And the PHA has warned families it may be forced to take action if the situation continues.
In a press release yesterday, PHA said health officials will seek the required legal authority to remove remains in the event that bodies are not removed in a timely manner.
The PMH is currently operating “under overflow conditions due to the increase in deceased individuals as a result of COVID-19”.
PHA revealed the situation led to a body in long-term storage being “compromised”.
“While the Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) attempts to mitigate its limited storage capacity with the use of a temporary repository, the increasing number of bodies threatens morgue operations,” the PHA statement noted.
“Recently and regrettably, the overflow conditions compromised the integrity of a body in long-term storage.
“The PHA is doing all within its capacity to facilitate the holding of unclaimed bodies, bodies that are pending release, and bodies that are under investigation by the coroner.
“Existing protocols and regulations are being strictly enforced to expedite the notification and retrieval of bodies from the morgue in a timely manner.”
The PHA requested funeral homes that are under contract by deceased families to “accelerate” removing bodies in preparation for burial.
“The Public Hospitals Authority invites family members or their legal representatives to contact management at the Princess Margaret Hospital at telephone number 322-2861 to arrange for the collection of their deceased loved ones,” the release stated.
Comments
tribanon 4 years, 3 months ago
Just more evidence of our ever growing society of destitute beggars. This is the natural outcome of decades of government corruption that has left so many in our society living a most humiliating life of poverty where they cannot even properly attend to the remains of members of their own family in a dignified manner.
The only solution here is an official government notice declaring that dead bodies not claimed and removed from the hospital morgue within a stipulated period of time will be cremated at the known next of kin's expense, or, if no next of kin, at the taxpayers' expense. Such a policy and notice is now long past due.
bogart 4 years, 3 months ago
Good points tribanon. This situation have been going on for years with storage of some 195 bodies in morgue before. Some other options to reduce the amount of deceased in morgue should be the donations to the Medical Schools for Surgical students, Medical Science. Another option for persons should be for the donation of organs to help other patients in critical need and having better chance of surviving.
DWW 4 years, 3 months ago
burn em or bury them. whats the problem? Money probably...
tribanon 4 years, 3 months ago
Our very corrupt PM (Minnis) is taking his sweet time in deciding whom among his favoured cronies will get a fat juicy contract for arranging either the cremation or burial of these unclaimed corpses at what will undoubtedly be a most outrageous price per corpse.
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