Health MEC inspects delay-plagued mortuary
Construction of a new mortuary in Observatory has been plagued by delays, but Health MEC Dr Nomafrench Mbombo says she is satisfied with efforts to finalise the project.
She, along with staff from the province’s forensic pathology services and ward councillor Yusuf Mohamed, paid an oversight visit to the Observatory Forensic Pathology Institute (OFPI) on Friday September 2.
The R287 million, three-storey facility is being built by the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works. It is located at the entrance of the Groote Schuur Hospital and will replace the Salt River mortuary, which has been in operation since 1957.
Work started in April 2017 and it should have been finished more than three years ago.
This new mortuary has 26 autopsy tables and 360 body fridges, compared to the 10 autopsy tables and 150 fridges at the Salt River mortuary.
The facility, a joint venture between the province’s health and public works departments, is expected to improve cohesion between the provincial forensic pathology services and the national health laboratory service while supporting UCT’s academic training in the field.
“It will provide Level 4 forensic services aimed at not only ‘storing’ remains but extracting, analysing, and preserving the integrity of evidence, in support of the medico-legal investigation of death in support of the criminal justice system,” said Dr Mbombo.
“The objective is to make the identification process for families as gentle as possible. A garden space and reflection space will be available to family members who identify the bodies of the deceased.”
When former Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela paid an oversight visit to the site last year, he said the facility would be completed by April this year (“New Observatory mortuary set to open in April,” Southern Suburbs Tatler, February 4, 2021).
But, last September, the provincial health department, said the facility would only be completed at the end of 2021.
Tanya Davids, a spokesperson for the Health MEC, said contractors were to blame for the delays and snags still had to be fixed.
Dr Mbombo said all work, including snags, was due to be finalised by February next year.
