Mass burial

Director of Medical Services at Port Moresby General Hospital, Dr. Koni Sobi said there are currently 295 unclaimed bodies of the deceased at the hospital morgue.

Director of Medical Services at Port Moresby General Hospital Dr. Koni Sobi said there were 92 unclaimed bodies and body parts, which were at the morgue from March – July 2022. These were buried today.

Dr Kobi said last year they did just one mass burial for unclaimed bodies brought to the morgue between January and March of 2022.

The mass burial came after a number of COVID-19 deaths reported in the country. National Pandemic Response Controller, David Manning, had authorised for the mass burial with the assistance from National Capital District Commission.

Two months earlier, the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) Management raised concern of the mortuary capacity and that it was overflowing. 

According to Director for Curative Health, Dr Kone Sobi, there are currently in excess of 300 bodies. 

Papua New Guinea authorities have approved a mass burial to take pressure off Port Moresby’s hospital morgue where bodies are stacked on top of each other as COVID-19 cases surge.

The burial of more than 200 bodies comes as health teams around the country report being attacked as they took part in vaccination programs.