More than two thousand unclaimed bodies in South Africa morgues

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More than two thousand unclaimed bodies in South Africa morgues

9:16 CAT | 24 Apr 2024

FILE - South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla. [File photo: @parliamentofrsa]

More than two thousand bodies, unclaimed by relatives, remain in state morgues in South Africa.

The information was provided on Tuesday by South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla, while answering questions in Parliament.

Without going into details, Phaahla said that the highest number of unclaimed bodies is in the province of Kwazulu-Natal, one of the most populous in South Africa.

The Minister explained that there have been ongoing discussions with forensic pathology services, local municipalities, and the police about the situation.

It is suspected that the majority of unclaimed bodies are those of undocumented foreigners.

The director of hospital services at the South African Ministry of Health, Relebohile Ncha, explained that the process of identifying bodies is time-consuming and that the unclaimed ones end up being buried as indigents:

“The main reason is that families do not come to claim the bodies of their loved ones. Probably some of them don’t even know that their loved ones have died and have no idea to come and see if they are in our morgues. On our side, the major challenge is that when we receive the bodies, we find that they have no means of identification. As for the time it takes, it can actually range from about seven days to about a year or more that the bodies remain in the morgues. The delay is because the identification process we are trying to follow takes some time as we have to involve the police, who assist us with fingerprints. Therefore, this search for identification before the bodies are buried as indigents makes the process even longer,” she said.

In the case of foreigners, health authorities require a passport, asylum seeker certificate, or a letter from the country of origin confirming who the deceased is and to whom the remains should be released.

Source: SABC News