The Western Cape Health Department will meet the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) today to address the metro’s forensic pathology services (FPS) backlog of 176 bodies that require a post-mortem.
This is after a 40% rise in the case load, in part linked to gang-related crimes.
The Muslim community has expressed concern over the waiting periods for bodies to be processed by the city’s mortuaries, saying the traditional rites of burial within 24 hours of a death were adversely affected by the backlog.
MJC deputy president and chairperson of the Muslim Cemetery Board Shaykh Riad Fataar said: “We have been very disappointed that families were not allowed to bury their family members according to Islamic law.
“The department has responded and provided solutions to assist those families that have come forward but this is a small group within the province’s larger Muslim community,” he said.
He urged the Muslim community to remain patient while the MJC tried resolving the crisis with the province’s health officials, who had assured the organisation that they would provide external personnel and additional refrigeration to manage the problem.
Provincial Health Department spokesperson Darren Francis said: “This backlog was not due to the strike that occurred in June but due to the recent murders and violent attacks in and around Cape Town, causing an increase in the number of unnatural deaths that require post-mortems.
“The two facilities (Salt River and Tygerberg) are on average conducting 35 examinations per day but this is not keeping pace with the number of cases,” Francis said.
At the weekend MEC for Health Nomafrench Mbombo told the Cape Times’ sister publication the Weekend Argus that a 40% rise in gun-related cases dealt with at state mortuaries had contributed to the backlog of an already strained system.
The backlog at Salt River mortuary stands at almost 90 bodies while the Tygerberg facility also faces similar problems owing to the higher number of bodies coming in daily.
Emergency Medical and Forensic Pathology Services spokesperson Robert Daniels said pathology was a scarce skill and that the department had already advertised four contract positions.
“The challenges our facilities are experiencing are not just related to the gun-related cases. Our pathologists are called to testify at court in cases in the province and their workload cannot be done by another pathologist,” he said.
“Only specialised persons can conduct a post-mortem and provide those findings in court, and rushing the process would be detrimental.”
The FPS always tried to assist but there were instances of fraud reported where individuals attempted to speed up post-mortems, while the deceased was not of the Islamic or Jewish faith he said.
Those who have lost loved and require assistance are urged to call the Tygerberg facility on 0219319140 or Salt River on 021 447 4915.