Beit Bridge District Hospital is set to conduct pauper’s burials to dispose of some of the 25 bodies that have not been collected from its mortuary for about six months.

Most of the bodies have been lying in the morgue since September last year and seven of them have since been designated for pauper’s burials, which will be conducted soon. Local police were still trying to locate the relatives of the other deceased persons.

The hospital’s health services administrator, Mr Nelson Mashiri, said last week that most of the bodies were of those people who had given incorrect addresses at the time of admission. He added that the Department of Social Services would conduct the burials at the Makakavhule local cemetery soon after completing the vetting exercise.

The hospital mortuary has a capacity of carrying only six bodies at a given time, but due to the ever-increasing number of unclaimed bodies, the facility is forced to accommodate as many as 60 bodies, resulting in the cooling system’s constantly breaking down. Most of the unclaimed bodies are at different stages of decomposition as a result of poor refrigeration.

Mashiri called on people with missing relatives to visit the Beit Bridge District Hospital for assistance.

Some of those unclaimed bodies are: Sithabile Moyo (27) female, Rollings Chibaya 41(male) who both passed away on 25 October last year, Samson Sithole (male), Thomas Chauke (male) who died on 5 November and other three unknown men, who also died in November last year.

The paupers’ burials are usually conducted every two months. Last year, the hospital failed to conduct such burials because of a lack of funds.

Meanwhile, work on the construction of a new mortuary at Beit Bridge District Hospital by World Vision, an international organization, is nearing completion. The organisation´s manager, Mrs Pretty Dube, said they had so far spent US $12 500 on the cooling system. She said they had also acquired equipment worth R60 000 for the trays, paint and other accessories and expected the project to be complete late this month.

Beit Bridge is a transit point; hence, the construction of the mortuary will cater for people involved in accidents on their way to either Zimbabwe or South Africa.