Durban - KwaZulu-Natal has a large number of unidentified bodies in its mortuaries.
This was recently revealed by Health Minister Joe Phaahla, who said there were 1 777 unidentified bodies in state mortuaries with KZN having 1 362 unidentified bodies.
Phaahla said there were continuous discussions with the forensic pathology service, local municipalities and the SAPS to have the bodies identified.
“The SAPS mandate is to manage all unidentified cases from public hospitals and forensic pathology service facilities. The SAPS has the competency of identification and tracing families.
“The department collaborates with the police, the Department of Home Affairs for fingerprints, and the Department of Social Development to trace families and local municipalities for pauper's burials where families are not successfully traced,'' he said.
Community development health workers also trace the last address on a deceased person's file, he said.
“Should the tracing not be successful, the deceased's DNA is extracted and sent to the police forensic science laboratory for storage in the database for future reference.
“It is only at this stage that the Health Department applies to the municipality for a pauper's burial," Phaahla said.
Tracing was done by social workers using details provided by the hospital, he said.
Ntokozo Nxumalo, National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) provincial deputy secretary, said union members had been raising the issue of unclaimed bodies for a long time.
“We have raised the issue before as the Phoenix mortuary has a large number of unidentified bodies, some dating back to 2016 before it moved and also some bodies from the 2022 floods and the July unrest in 2021,’’ he said.
Due to the unidentified bodies there was overcrowding at mortuaries, he said.
‘’Our workers have to conform to poor working conditions due to overcrowding and having to work with decomposed bodies, as load shedding strikes and there are not enough fridges to keep these corpses. Mortuaries have been faced with issues of being understaffed and having to deal with the shortage of PPEs,’’ he said.
It was the government's responsibility to ensure that over a certain period, these bodies were buried together with the assistance of the SAPS and the municipality, he said.