The family of a 79-year-old woman, Florah Mokoena from Tafelkop in the Sekhukhune District, Limpopo, is angry after the body of their mother was found wrapped and placed in the storage room instead of the mortuary at the Groblersdal hospital recently.
In an interview with Sunday World, one of her sons, Moseti Mokoena, said they took their mother to the hospital. Their mother was admitted, and died the next day.
“The hospital called us a day after she was admitted. They informed us that she has unfortunately passed on,” he said.
Room strewn with cleaning items
“Upon our arrival at the hospital around 10pm, one of the staff members told us not to be surprised about the place they had laid her corpse. And we were shocked to discover that she was wrapped and laid on a bed in the hospital storage.
“The place was cluttered with buckets, dirty mops, cleaning chemicals, and general hospital waste. The death notice showed that she died at 7.19pm. This suggests that her lifeless body was stored there for more than three hours.”
“This is despite the fact that she had a tag that suggested that she had been delivered to the mortuary. We demanded the reasons why our mother wasn’t placed in the mortuary or at least a cool room. And …the nurses told us that she was too huge to fit in their mortuary compartments,” said Moseti.
Moseti said as a family, they are so disappointed with the hospital, and that their mother’s dignity was undermined.
Demands probe from CEO
“I think the staff members did that deliberately. Because when our private mortuary came to pick her up, they were surprised. They said there is no way the hospital can’t have a storage to fit everybody’s size,” added Moseti. He has since confirmed that they have written a formal complaint letter to the hospital’s CEO.
One of the hospital staff members who spoke anonymously told Sunday World that they don’t condone such incidents. However, it is unfortunate that they are just following instructions from above.
Sunday World’s effort to get a moment from the hospital CEO, Alfred Mokwana, was fruitless.
BPSA condemns incident
The Bolsheviks Party of South Africa (BPSA) has condemned the incident. Its secretary-general Seun Mogotsi said: “The hospital’s action is uncalled for.
“This is another piece of evidence that a poor black person’s life doesn’t matter. Honestly speaking, this is not a matter of poor judgment. It is a shocking act of systemic negligence and disrespect.”
Sunday World is in possession of the pictures of the deceased laid in the said storage room.
