adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
NKAYI District Hospital mortuary has been dysfunctional for the past three months after it broke down. The situation has forced villagers to resort to traditional ways of preserving bodies.
Sources said the mortuary, which has been on and off in the past six years, finally broke down three months ago, forcing hospital authorities to shut it down.
The hospital requires about $3,500 to repair the mortuary, which has a carrying capacity of nine bodies.
Nkayi’s ward 29 councillor, Kufakwezwe Ncube, said yesterday that villagers were forced to use sand, water and banana leaves to preserve bodies before burial.
He said the nearest mortuaries were at Silobela, about 80km from Nkayi and Mbuma Hospital, about 120km away.
“Our mortuary has been down for the past three months now. It had been up and down for a couple of years but the hospital was struggling to keep the bodies in a good state as they would decompose quickly,” said Clr Ncube.
“The challenge we have is that villagers have to travel long distances to get mortuary services. Those who can’t afford wrap the body with banana leaves and cover it with river sand and pour water on it. This way, a corpse can stay for a few days without going bad.”
Clr Ncube appealed to well wishers to assist with funds to repair the mortuary.
He said repeated appeals to the government and the private sector for assistance had so far not yielded any positive results.
“Several meetings have been held by the council authorities, the business community and the district leadership to try and map the way forward. It was agreed that $3, 500 was required to repair the mortuary but nothing so far has been done.
“The hospital management said the institution has no funds to rehabilitate the mortuary. We’re, therefore, appealing to well-wishers and the Nkayi community to restore the mortuary,” said Clr Ncube.
He also appealed to private funeral parlours to set up businesses in the district.
Clr Ncube said the hospital was operating below capacity as critical drugs were in short supply.
The acting Matabeleland North provincial medical director, Dr Tafadzwa Sibanda, confirmed the mortuary breakdown.
She said the government was working on fixing the problem.
“The mortuary hasn’t been working for some time now but we’re working on it,” said Dr Sibanda without giving further details.
Nkayi District Administrator, Moses Mbewe, expressed concern over the delays in fixing the hospital mortuary.
He said the situation was a health threat to villagers.
“It’s not a healthy situation at all. Looking at the economic situation, it’s only a few villagers who can afford to transport the bodies of their loved ones to the distant hospital mortuaries. It’s too expensive.
“We’ve, however, engaged the department of public works to assist in the rehabilitation of the mortuary. We’ve also identified partners like Nyaradzo Funeral Services and they’ve shown interest in helping us repair the mortuary,” said Mbewe.
Most government hospitals in the country are facing serious financial challenges as treasury is reportedly struggling to meet the different budget proposals presented by the health institutions to the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The health institutions last year presented varying budget proposals which were approved by the health ministry, but the hospitals received meagre amounts from Treasury which are not sufficient to sustain their operations.
Online Reporter