The mortuary refrigerator at the Bole District Hospital in the Savannah Region has broken down for almost a year now forcing mortuary attendants to keep corpses on the floor for a while.
The Medical Superintendent of the hospital confirmed to newsmen in Bole that the mortuary fridge which has eight compartments has not been functional over a year now.
Dr. Nindow Alfonsus, the Medical Superintendent, said that an expert had been contacted to repair the faulty refrigerator for about two times yet the situation remains the same.
“Anytime there is an accident on the road and the police do not locate relations of the deceased, the only option is to carry such bodies to the nearest facilities which are Damongo and Wa” which he expressed dissatisfaction with the development.
It is a major problem for us because accident victims and people from other places sometimes die at this facility. It’s always difficult to locate their families and hence it becomes a challenge for us because the hospital mortuary is not working, Dr. Nindow bemoaned.
He added that the structure that houses the mortuary is in a very deplorable state and needs major renovation and that is beyond the ability of the Hospital because it’s quite capital intensive and the mortuary’s fridge has also broken down beyond repairs.
“For the past one year, we don’t have a mortuary fridge and bodies that should be kept and preserved for some days for their relations to take over, we have had to send to Damongo which is about two hours drive from here and that’s a whole lot of inconvenience,” he stated.
Dr. Nidow Alfonsus said, it is a major challenge because the town is on a highway, Wa to Accra and there are a lot of accidents on the road. Sometimes, when people die, we have to keep their bodies for their family to come and identify them and because the mortuary isn’t functional, it becomes a big challenge for us.
He added they have since written to the Ministry of Health Headquarters in Accra to notify management about the state of the mortuary and the dyfunctional fridge at the facility.
Dr. Nindow is then appealing to benevolent organizations, relevant stakeholders and individuals from both far and near to help equip the hospital’s mortuary to enable it preserve corpses for clinical and pre-burial services.
Source: yagbonradioonline
