The freezer problem at Madang Provincial Hospital morgue is being addressed with a new freezer on its way.
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.
Mr Waipma said the hospital management were working around the clock to improve the situation, when there was rumour on change of management that hindered their work late last year.
He said last month the hospital’s account was on hold and they were unable to access funds to buy a new freezer. Until this week, funds were sourced in-house to purchase one.
Mr Waipma said there are many issues to address in order to get the hospital operations going.
Meantime, the public raised concern about the bad odor while travelling around the morgue area in the last couple of weeks. They said the morgue issue has been ongoing since last year. They said the provincial government, provincial health authority, Madang MPs and all stakeholders should help the hospital.
The media also visited the morgue and confirmed the morgue’s condition.