Mozambique: Almost 1,000 bodies unclaimed by relatives in Maputo province hospital morgues in 2021

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Mozambique: Almost 1,000 bodies unclaimed by relatives in Maputo province hospital morgues in 2021

6:00 CAT | 24 May 2021

FILE - Morgue of the Maputo Central Hospital. [File photo: CIP]

At least 950 bodies out of a total of 3,233 deaths recorded in hospitals in Maputo province this year have not been claimed by relatives, a fact associated with Covid-19 and lack of conditions to carry out funeral ceremonies, an official source said.

The unclaimed bodies were buried collectively, after at least two weeks in the morgues of public hospitals in Maputo province, explained Dominga Romão, deputy director of the Municipal Service for the Management of Morgues and Cemeteries, cited by private television channel STV.

“After 15 days, depending on the capacity of the morgue, if we have many bodies, we have to collect them” for mass burials, Dominga Romão said.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 950 bodies have been abandoned and the fact is linked, on the one hand, to fear of the risk of contagion from Covid-19 and, on the other, the lack of conditions to funding the funeral expenses.

“We even have a funeral parlour, and we try to help some families. But it is necessary, first, that the family makes a document at the neighbourhood level asking for support,” he added.

Of the 950 bodies that were abandoned this year, most were at Maputo Central Hospital and José Macamo General Hospital, two units considered as a reference in Maputo province.

Source: Lusa