THE unhygienic environment in the newly built morgue at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) needs to be seriously looked into by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and responsible authorities.
Reports received by this paper allegedly from doctors and other medical workers said that the appalling state of the morgue must not fall on deaf ears.
“Remember that our health is also paramount when working in such an unhygienic environment,” reliable source within NRH said.
The source further told this paper that the morgue itself is a big risk and a lot of things need to improve to meet the required health standard.
“Not only the morgue’s environment that needs improvement, workers dealing with the morgue right down to the whole building urgently in dire need of attention,” the source stressed.
Its understood that NRH Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Steve Aumanu previously said that for the morgue to complete and fully equipped with the much needed facilities, the country needs around SBD$2.5.
The source however said that the design of the building does not reflect the money used to build the morgue.
“We have very poor drainage inside the morgue with no tiles on the floor and honestly speaking, the drainage system is no different to that of a household kitchen.
“Sometimes when we embalm dead bodies, we have no choice but to endure hours in sporadic pools of blood.
“We often resort to the use of buckets to drain blood because of the very poor drainage and outlet systems at the morgue.
“The truth is some of us only work in the morgue to help our family members and friends who have lost their loved ones and need our help,” the source said.
The source also revealed that there’s no standard embalming bed in the morgue.
It is also understood that services provided at the new morgue are Boarding, Embalming and Orthosis.
Meanwhile, calls made to get further comments from the Medical Superintendent last night were unsuccessful.
By ANDREW FANASIA
