Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Chronicle Reporter
VILLAGERS in Gwanda South Constituency have resorted to keeping bodies of their relatives at home awaiting burial as anama Mission Hospital has been operating without providing mortuary services for four years.
After collecting the bodies from the hospital, villagers use old embalming methods to preserve the corpses. They select a corner in one of the houses where they pour river sand and drench it with water. They then place the naked body on the river sand. Some use fertiliser to preserve the body.
The villagers that use the sand method said they have to constantly pour water onto the sand to keep it wet.
They said this method can preserve a body for two nights.The villagers said they had resorted to this method as they could not afford services of private funeral parlours who charge R400 per night to keep a body.
Mr Promise Ncube from Matulungundu village in Ward 16 said:
“This hospital has been operating without a mortuary for many years which has left us with no other option but to use traditional methods of preserving bodies. We can’t afford to use services of private funeral parlours in the area as they are expensive.
We also can’t afford to ferry the bodies to Gwanda Provincial Hospital which has forced us to keep the bodies at home,” he said.
Mr Ncube said when his brother died early this year, they collected his body and kept it in the house for two days before burial.
Headman Nyakallo Makhurane said the method of keeping bodies at homes had become very common in the area.
“We have used this method several times to preserve bodies before burial and it’s now common. Some use river sand and water while others use fertiliser.
“The major challenge is that we cannot keep the bodies for a long time hence many people are forced to bury their loved ones before the arrival of other relatives from places like South Africa,” said headman Makhurane.
Gwanda District Medical Officer, Dr Blessed Gwarimbo said the mortuary needed new refrigerators and cooler rooms.
He said efforts have been made to repair the refrigerators but they kept developing faults.
Speaking during a visit to the hospital on Tuesday, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro said he was concerned that the hospital was not offering mortuary services.
He said the hospital which was one of the major referral centres in Matabeleland South Province could not operate without providing mortuary services.
“I was at the mortuary and nothing is working. It’s a 12-body refrigerator mortuary but none of the fridges are functional. We have given instruction that part of the money that will come to the hospital should be used to refurbish the mortuary and also buy the necessary equipment such as refrigerators and compressors.We want this mortuary to be functioning as soon as possible,” he said.
Government has allocated $28 million towards upgrading Manama Mission Hospital whose infrastructure was early this month destroyed by a violent storm. –@DubeMatutu
Online Reporter