‘No crisis in Mangaung’: Health dept responds to Bloemfontein mortuary closure

The Free State Department of Health has identified how bodies will be handled and how it will address critical issues after a government mortuary in Bloemfontein was closed down until further notice.

It was closed by the Department of Employment and Labour for violating the Occupational Health Safety Act.

Issues at Bloemfontein mortuary

The labour department said it conducted an inspection last week after it received a complaint about a number of issues at the facility.

Inspectors found water leakages which could cause “serious harm and fatalities to workers should they come into contact with exposed electrical wires”.

The labour department said the mortuary was issued with three additional notices for the failure to ensure a proper ventilation system in the post-mortem room and risking exposure to Bioaerosols.

There was also a “failure to identify and mitigate against various hazards associated with pathological services and sewage blockage resulting from post-mortem discharge”.

New bodies will be processed at Welkom Mortuary

Free State Department of Health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi said it was responding “as humanly and dignified as possible” to the handling of the bodies that are due to be processed through the government mortuary.

“The government mortuary has processed all the bodies that were due for autopsies before the prohibition notice was issued by the Department of Labour on 18 October 2024,” Mvambi said.

“The Department of Health has made arrangements for the bodies that need to be dissected now whilst the prohibition notice is in effect, to be taken to the Welkom Mortuary where they will be dissected.”

He said bodies received from hospitals, accident scenes and private undertakers will be stored in fridges in the forensic pathology truck in transit at the government mortuary in the Free State.

The truck has the capacity to store at least 12 bodies overnight while they are transported to the Welkom Mortuary before being returned the same day to families by private undertakers.

“There is no crisis in Mangaung since the issuing of the prohibitive notice on 18 October 2024 as families that needed to get the bodies of their next of kin were given their bodies after the autopsies were conducted,” Mvambi said.

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Addressing the critical issues at the mortuary

He then responded to the critical issues inspectors had noted:

• Electrical Compliance: The contractor is on-site to attend to all defects in electrical installations, Mvambi said. “They have already identified that the air-condition/HVAC system and the electrical network were vandalised, and the mortuary lost tonnes of copper as a result of this vandalism.”

• Blocked Sewer Pipes: These were causing an unpleasant smell and are being attended to by plumbing services whilst the Department of Public Works is helping with the toilets.

• Ventilation and extraction problems: The department has made mobile air-conditioners available and these are being installed.

• Structural safety: The structural engineers conducted an assessment and unblocked the drainage system, Mvambi said.

• The waste fridge is to be replaced and quotations have already been sourced.

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“The work of the department will continue including ensuring that there is general good upkeep, hygiene, maintenance, waste management, infection prevention control measures are implemented and availability of the required PPE (Personal Protection Equipment),” the spokesperson added.

He said the department was also now attending to the psychosocial needs of its forensic pathology officers. He said the department never refused such a need. Instead, it considered its provision against the “pressing financial obligations of the demands within an unfavourable financial environment of rising commodity prices fuelled by the ever-rising cost of production”.

Additional reporting by Faizel Patel.