Please Pick Up Their Bodies; Morgue Overwhelmed
The Acting C.E.O. of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital had to call a press conference today over something he probably never thought he would have to do: urge those who have lost loved ones to come and get their bodies, and to do it as quickly as possible. It seems the morgue at the K.H.M.H. is now over capacity due to a combination of factors, increasing COVID-19 deaths and a mechanical malfunction at the facility. Paul Lopez found out more this afternoon.
Timothy Seguro, Acting C.E.O., K.H.M.H.
“What we are doing is that we are making a public plea, to society in general, with respect to assisting us to getting out their bodies as quick as possibly from the morgue. The reason being, we originally have space for twenty-one bodies, but one of the units stopped functioning about two weeks ago, and with the advent of COVID and this situation, we are in excess of what we should have in our morgue.”
Reporter
“With that one down, right now, for how many do you have capacity?”
Timothy Seguro
Timothy Seguro
“Right now the capacity is at twelve.”
Reporter
“When do you think the other unit will be able to be repaired?”
Timothy Seguro
“Through the forensic unit, they are telling us; by the end of this week that unit should be repaired. However, with the rate of deaths we are having, which includes COVID and regular deaths, we will exceed that twenty-one in no time.”
Paul Lopez
“How much do you have in the morgue at this time?”
Timothy Seguro
“Yes, we have fifteen, and we had to ask forensic department to take on three bodies that we should be responsible for.”
Reporter
“What is causing this hold up? Is it lack of following through with the paper work or people are simply not coming to pick up the bodies?”
Timothy Seguro
“As a general Belizean society, we like to have this three to five to seven days wait for just planning. But, we are asking if they can cut that down to two day, three days. It will greatly assist us.”
Reporter
“This is not a policy that was in place from the time we started dealing with the pandemic and seeing deaths?”
Timothy Seguro
“No, this is not something that has been in place. However, what has been in place is that for COVID deaths we want the bodies to get out, act quick as possible so that we could decrease the possibilities of cross contamination for our staff and other persons coming to the morgue.”
Paul Lopez
“Do you believe that it may potentially reach a place where the morgue may no longer be able to accept bodies and that as soon as somebody dies, they may have to be taken directly to the cemetery?”
Timothy Seguro
“No, I don’t foresee that right now but we will put things in place so that that doesn’t happen.”
