Morgue

This comes after a plea from the hospital’s morgue attendant last week for a new freezer. He said nine dead bodies were being stored in a container and were decaying due to the freezer not cooling.

According to the Madang Provincial Hospital (MPH) Executive Officer, Fidelis Waipma the continuous power outage was the cause of the problem since last year.

He said the freezers are not working properly and the dead bodies are decaying. This has been ongoing and the hospital have to tell people from Madang to take the bodies back home for burial.

CEO Dr Paki Molumi said there are up to 300 bodies being kept in a facility that can cater for only 120 at a time.

The mortuary in the nation’s capital is pushing its limits, and residents whose loved ones have been in there for quite a while, have been asked to bury their relatives, or they will be face mass burial.

“As you’ve seen in the papers, we are asking for relatives to come and claim the bodies and give them a decent burial. If that doesn’t happen then we will do a mass burial,” Dr Molumi said.

Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Vincent Atua in an urgent notice to the Provincial Government and other stakeholders pointed out that the morgue is out of service.

Dr Atua in his letter is urging Madang people and residents who have their family member’s body in the morgue to urgently make arrangements to repatriate the body.

The reason for the urgent closure of the morgue is not stated in the letter but PNG Loop understands that it might arise due to planning for maintenance on the building, or the freezer problem.