As the Public Servants Association in KwaZulu-Natal, we are very concerned with the poorly maintained and managed mortuary services in our province.
This problem has been there for years. We warned the department of health when they decided to close one of the mortuaries in Gale Street, Durban.
Phoenix was exposed during the July 2021 unrest, when they couldn't manage the influx of corpses of people who died.
Our members are placed at risk because of the shortage of cleaning chemicals for disinfecting, there is a shortage of staff including doctors who perform postmortems, and there is a lack of training for those who collect bodies.
The department of health needs to investigate the state of our mortuaries in the province and allocate additional human capital and resources to attend to this crisis.
We are aware that the management and MEC are fixing old problems, but we need time frames and speed in resolving these issues.
Our members have the right to down tools if the environment is not safe to work in.
Mlungisi Ndlovu
Durban
• You too can join the discussion. Send your thoughts to letters@timeslive.co.za. Please keep your letters to 350 words or less. Include your name, contact number and where you are writing from. Letters will be edited before publication. While we appreciate your feedback, submissions that don’t adhere to our comment policy will not be considered.
LETTER | Our members have the right to down tools
Phoenix was exposed during the July 2021 unrest, when they couldn't manage the influx of corpses of people who died
Image: Supplied
As the Public Servants Association in KwaZulu-Natal, we are very concerned with the poorly maintained and managed mortuary services in our province.
This problem has been there for years. We warned the department of health when they decided to close one of the mortuaries in Gale Street, Durban.
Phoenix was exposed during the July 2021 unrest, when they couldn't manage the influx of corpses of people who died.
Our members are placed at risk because of the shortage of cleaning chemicals for disinfecting, there is a shortage of staff including doctors who perform postmortems, and there is a lack of training for those who collect bodies.
The department of health needs to investigate the state of our mortuaries in the province and allocate additional human capital and resources to attend to this crisis.
We are aware that the management and MEC are fixing old problems, but we need time frames and speed in resolving these issues.
Our members have the right to down tools if the environment is not safe to work in.
Mlungisi Ndlovu
Durban
• You too can join the discussion. Send your thoughts to letters@timeslive.co.za. Please keep your letters to 350 words or less. Include your name, contact number and where you are writing from. Letters will be edited before publication. While we appreciate your feedback, submissions that don’t adhere to our comment policy will not be considered.
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