Suva Morgue Services officials say they have space to accept more dead bodies contrary to a Ministry of Health advisory today saying otherwise.
In the public advisory, the MOH called on relatives to collect their dead from the mortuary because it has been “utilised to full capacity”, statements that SMS Chief Executive Officer Diven Prasad says are “not true.”
“We can still cater for bodies. We don’t need extra freezers, but if we do, we already have an extra standby freezer that can be deployed within four hours,” Prasad said.
Prasad says they have an emergency freezer on standby to cater for additional bodies but have not had a reason to use it since their current freezer which can hold up to 58 bodies still has space.
“Remember funerals happen every day. So there is a release, and we’re looking at 10 releases a day, sometimes eight, sometimes 11, so bodies come and bodies go. We are under control, there is nothing to panic or worry about.”
Prasad believes the MOH’s advisory was aimed at reminding relatives of the need to collect the bodies of their loved ones as soon as possible instead of keeping them in the mortuary for one to two weeks.
“But, as far as we know, we can cater for more bodies. If we had, I would have reached out and say to the families to please come and take your loved one away.”
Suva Morgue’s services extend as far as Navua and Vunidawa.
It is believed MOH’s advisory stems from expectations of further hospitalisation and deaths as a result of increasing coronavirus infections daily, with the highest reported yesterday with 522 cases. Comments were also sought from the MOH.
There have been 41 deaths in the current outbreak – 28 attributed to COVID19 and 13 to pre-existing conditions.
