By OBAKENG MAJE
The North West MEC for Health, Sello Lehari said he will visit various healthcare centres across four districts as part of his Re Bona Ka Matlhoprogramme. Recently, Lehari conducted an oversight visit to the embattled Brits Forensic Pathology Mortuary in Brits.
This comes after the National Education, Health and Allied Union (NEHAWU) raised concerns regarding a dire situation the mortuary found itself in. NEHAWU called on Lehari’s department to shut down the mortuary immediately and address the calamitous situation.
Lehari said the union alleged that the mortuary is non-compliance to Occupational Health and Safety Act and lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). He further said the workers also complained about the stench that is coming out of the refrigerator of the mortuary and over capacity of bodies, amongst others.
“They demanded that a medical check-up should be arranged for workers working at the mortuary. Among those who were part of this oversight visit and a briefing on the status of the mortuary were the MMCs for Health Services from both the Bojanala District Municipality and the Madibeng Local Municipality, as well as senior managers of the department and the leadership of the labour union, NEHAWU both at provincial and local level.
“Part of the already implemented interventions, is to immediately transfer some of the bodies to other private mortuaries, to relieve the current overflow, due to the fact that the Brits mortuary only has a capacitance of 120. Currently, deep-cleaning is taking place to resolve bad odour coming out of the unit,” said Lehari.
He added that the oversight team noted that the overflow is mainly caused by the fact that Phokeng Mortuary is currently under renovation. Mothibedi said the other challenge is shortage of staff.
“Unclaimed bodies also add to the overflow. There is also a tendency for families to not claim bodies which leads to the mortuaries having to conduct a large amount of paupers’ burials. Compounding this challenge is the fact that Bojanala is a mining area, hence many unknown bodies because of workers who come from far places.
“The department has made a request to the South African Police (SAPS) for the burial of 88 unidentified bodies. Currently the department is being restricted by SAPS from burying as it awaits letters of permission for burial,” he said.
Lehari noted a report and provided a way-forward as part of further strengthening of the intervention plans. He said he knows about the complaints which NEHAWU has raised.
“I take all these complaints seriously and we are here to provide solutions. We would like to assure every one of my commitment to finding a lasting solution. Therefore, we immediately called for a meeting with the departmental management, to close any gap in the intervention plan.
“We considered the proposals made by NEHAWU and provide any further information for decision making. I promise to return to the mortuary within 8 days as part of his unannounced visits to health delivery sites,” he said.
The Guardian 