'Dead lie without any dignity'

Corpses found piled high on floors and dead babies were left to rot in waste buckets

WORKING among the dead has become a living hell for Eastern Cape mortuary workers, with the "gruesome" and "horrible" conditions they are exposed to every day.

Understaffed, overworked and putting their lives at risk, state employees have broken the silence following a Daily Dispatch exposé into shocking conditions at state-run mortuaries in the province.

During the month-long investigation - at 12 morgues from Lusikisiki to Port Elizabeth - corpses were found piled high on floors, dead babies were left to rot in waste buckets, organs left out in the open, and staff exposed to deadly diseases.

Workers complained about the standards of mortuaries, overburdened workloads, managerial incompetence and a "disinterested" provincial health department.

The workers' names cannot be disclosed for fear of reprisals.

A medical legal assistant at the Mount Road Forensic Pathology Laboratory in Port Elizabeth described their conditions as "pathetic" and "dangerous".

The mortuary has five workers who perform postmortems - and also double up as body collectors. Only two rusted gurneys are functional. The remaining four are broken and stacked outside.

"The gurneys are f....d up and sometimes bodies slip and fall on the floor. We then have to flood the floors (with water) and slide them across," he said.

"They (the bodies) also get damaged because the fridges are too high for us and we don't have a working lifting jack. Sometimes we drop them."

Most equipment dates back to 2006 when the province's government mortuaries were moved from SAPS to the department of health.

Almost all the morgues visited did not have proper body bags or shrouds to cover bodies. Old blankets were often used to cover bodies. In most cases a single blanket was used to cover two, sometimes even three bodies. This can lead to the spread of diseases.

Workers - except from the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital morgue - did not have proper, protective uniforms. This was the biggest gripe by all mortuary workers.

"It is wrong . so wrong," said a Mthatha worker. "I am forced to work in my own clothes and they get contaminated. I mean the bodies touch my clothing all the time. but what must I do?"

Provincial health department director of communications Siyanda Manana this week claimed that his department had ordered protective clothing worth R400,000 from a private supplier. He did not give a time-frame of when these will be available.

Workers from the Mthatha morgue compared their "appalling" conditions to a "dirty farm".

The employees blamed "poor planning by management" on the unfolding crisis.

They said three workers were normally on a single shift and had to travel across Transkei - as far as Coffee Bay and Mount Frere - to service 15 police stations.

"We've had five members put on suspension over petty issues like parking. We don't have stretchers and we have to ask members of the public to help us lift bodies into the cars," one worker said.

"Our equipment is outdated and always breaks. The only head-saw we have has been borrowed from the hospital.

"Human specimens have been lying in our fridges for months and are not being collected for testing because of poor management."

Employees from all the morgues complained about working around the clock, resulting in a "vast number" being suspended. They said the most common reason was for being "drunk on duty".

"What must we do. We work all day and see this all the time. We need to relax and forget sometimes as well," a Lusikisiki worker said.

Manana said in the past two years, five workers had been fired.

He said his department spent an average of R2 million a year on overtime taken by mortuary employees.

"Each forensic officer is allowed a maximum of 300 hours per annum. The number of hours worked varies from facility to facility depending on the need. Remember accidental deaths cannot be predicted."

Regarding the lack of clothing, a worker from Mount Road mortuary said: "The police assume that we are just members of the public and refuse us entry to crime scenes".

He said many of the problems were caused by managers who did not have "adequate qualifications" to manage the facility.

"They are constables and warrant officers who don't have a clue how a morgue is supposed to be run. They just drive around all day."

In all laboratories visited, no managers were on site. Workers blamed the department for not showing interest in "proper management".

Many claimed they were not tested regularly for Hepatitis B.

Manana said they were offered various tests for Hepatitis B and TB. "You cannot force employees to go for testing and immunisation. It must be voluntary," he said.

A strong smell of death could be smelt from the parking lot at Butterworth laboratory. A worker there said the generator had been broken for months.