President of the National Doctors Association, Dr. James Naipao has responded to the video of dead bodies at the Port Moresby Morgue layout being circulated recently on social media.
Dr. Naipao said the situation came about due to the morgue being full and it cannot accommodate anymore bodies. He said the situation of the layout is reflective of the situational problems the city and the nation is facing.
He added that the mortuary is a function of NCDC, unfortunately, this facility is at PMGH, thus it is forced to take on the function.
A full morgue reveals that relatives of the deceased are not coming to claim bodies and bury them.
Dr Naipao is concerned over this as this may also reveal the socioeconomic problem the country and the city is facing now.
“When Port Moresby General Hospital was built during the colonial administration, it was built to cater for 200,000 people. In the 1990s, when the Japanese part of the hospital construction was completed, it was to cater for a population of 400,000 people,” Dr. Naipao said.
“Right now, no extension to Port Moresby General Hospital has been done to cater for well over 1.3 million people in the city in spite of availability of NCD Health services, private health services and military health services on the ground.
As is, the morgue at Port Moresby General Hospital is the responsibility of the National Capital District Commission,” Dr. Naipao added.
He stressed that relatives of the deceased should respect the bodies and give a respected accorded burial early rather than leaving the deceased in the morgue for weeks and months.
Dr Naipao believes a long term solution would be for NCDC to expand the PMGH morgue.
Meanwhile PMGH CEO, Dr. Paki Molumi expressed similar concerns – especially that relatives of the deceased are not claiming their bodies, leaving no space to cater for the recently deceased.
He stressed that the overflow of the morgue is an everyday issue. The only difference with is that it has been captured and posted to social media.
On a positive note, Dr. Molumi said clearance documents have been sent to the media and requests sent for Coroner's warrant of burial. A mass burial is expected this week.
Dr Molumi added that the government, through donor partners, has allocated funds to address the long-standing mortuary issue in 2023.