A video of the Port Moresby General Hospital (PMGH) Mortuary is currently being widely viewed and shared on social media on the state of the facility.
The mortuary is a function of National Capital District Commission (NCDC), unfortunately this facility is at PMGH and PMGH is forced to take on the function.
PMGH in a statement on Monday said the mortuary cannot take on the load of a growing population.
PMGH CEO Dr Paki Molumi said, “It’s an everyday thing, only that it’s now gone viral on social media.”
“As of Monday 2nd of January 2023 around lunch time, there were 20 bodies in the layout.”
“The morgue is extremely overcrowded largely due to relatives not picking up bodies in a timely manner.”
There is accumulation of bodies more than is removed on a daily basis.
Dr Molumi further said that clearance documents to media and Coroner’s warrant of burial are all in order as of last week and a mass burial is expected this week.
“Moving forward into 2023, the Government through donor partners allocated funds to address the long standing mortuary issue.”
Meanwhile, National Doctors Association President Dr. James Naipao said, the situation at the morgue at PMGH is a sad situation.
The footage on Facebook revealed many things.
“It revealed a full morgue, that relatives of the deceased are not burying the dead. This may also reveal the socioeconomic problem the country is facing at the moment and the situation the city is facing at the moment too.”
The Morgue was built for a city’s population of 400, 000 in the 1990’s when the Japanese constructed part of the hospital and now the city’s population is well over 1.3 million.
Right now, no extension to PMGH has been done to cater for well over 1.3 million people in the city in spite of availability of NCD Health services, private & military health services on ground.
Dr, Naipao also stressed that the morgue at PMGH is the responsibility of the NCDC.
“NCDC should now expand the morgue at PMGH.”
Dr. Naipao added that the deceased are overcrowding the morgue and relatives of deceased should respect the bodies and give a respected accorded burial early rather than leaving the deceased in the morgue for weeks to months.
“The blame should not fall of the hospital management and it’s Board for this situation.”
“This is a call out to NCDC to address the morgue crises and assist Port Moresby General Hospital.”