“It was not a pretty sight. He was changing to purple, had become very dark and started to smell.”
This was how a relative of a 37-year-old man, who died on July 16, described the state of his body when they finally fetched him from Johannesburg forensic pathology services mortuary in Hillbrow two weeks later.
The state morgue has been battling from postmortem backlogs in the recent weeks which left families frustrated and upset after finding deceased bodies starting to decompose.
The family of Riverlea sports coach Marsellino Miller, who was shot multiple times on a soccer field, was one of the families that suffered from the backlogs.
Miller sustained about four gunshot wounds when he and his teammates were ambushed by unknown assailants at the Riverlea sportsfield in broad daylight, shortly after playing a football match.
Miller’s relative, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation from the assailants told TimesLIVE Premium the family was left traumatised.
“Marsellino and two of his teammates were hurt during the shooting and he was taken to Helen Joseph Hospital but died the same day. On July 18 we went to Hillbrow mortuary, and were told the body was not transferred from the hospital due to a case number issue.
“We opened the case, and the body was transferred to the mortuary on Wednesday [July 19 four days after shooting]. At the mortuary they told us by Friday we would have the postmortem,” he said.
On Friday, July 21, the body was not released because the postmortem had not yet been conducted.
“We were told this was because of a backlog and that they would work on Saturday to p`ush the numbers. When we went there the following Monday [July 24] we had no joy because all the pathologists were on strike.
“They did not have doctors to do it [autopsy] and had to bring doctors from other areas to do it.”
The postmortem was finally done on July 26, but the relative said Miller’s body had started to smell and was discoloured. Due to this, the family had to view the body in private ahead of the funeral service.
“It was not a pretty sight. The deep discolouration was the first thing you could see and obviously the smell. He was changing to purple and very dark. Marsellino was light in complexion.”
The relative described the experience as traumatic and said due to the delays the family postponed the funeral twice.
Briefing the media on Tuesday, health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko apologised to families who have been affected by backlogs at the mortuary.
“There has been an outcry where you find that over the weekend families who want to bury their departed loved ones are frustrated as they could not get access due to processes taking longer to complete.
“We would like to sincerely apologise to all those families who have had to endure difficulties in their moment of grief due to inefficiencies in the system. We are remedying that,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
She said the department appointed a task team to tackle the backlog and 139 bodies, between July 24 and 31 2023, were examined, of which 96 were claimed, while 43 remained unclaimed.
Nkomo-Ralehoko said as of Tuesday the state morgue had no backlogs.
The mortuary, as one of the busiest in Gauteng, had eight doctors who have to conduct postmortems on 4,000 bodies a year. This means the mortuary on average receives about 11 bodies a day.
According to the health department, a postmortem takes about three days excluding complicated cases such as multiple gunshots cases, death in police custody and murder-rape cases.
Senior pathologist specialist Tinyiko Nkondo told TimesLIVE Premium the pathologists were stuck with the dilemma of having to conduct thorough examinations on bodies, while families put pressure demanding release of bodies for burials. She said an influx in bodies at the mortuary at times created the backlogs.
Nkondo said when the mortuary started operating it had 16 doctors, but the numbers dwindled to eight. This happened while the number of bodies received by the mortuary continues to increase.
The department has added five more doctors to the mortuary to alleviate pressure on the eight.
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