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Freedom Mupanedemo
Midlands Bureau
Shurugwi District Hospital mortuary is saddled with unclaimed bodies, some of which have become dismembered skeletons, with older bodies now just bones stored in a cardboard box rather than properly buried in a pauper’s burial, which is what is supposed to happen if families abandon a body or there are no relatives.

Authorities say some of the bones and skulls stored at the hospital were brought in by police as part of investigations that have not yet been closed.

Joining a bereaved family collecting a body from Shurugwi hospital mortuary this week, our reporter heard the sad story of a grossly overloaded mortuary and years of no pauper burials.

“Some of these bodies have not been collected for some years and we wonder what is going on,” said an official who requested anonymity. “We also have a body of an artisanal miner who was murdered some years back following a gold rush in Shurugwi.

“The bodies have since decayed because remember we had a time when the country experienced power load shedding so the bodies decayed.”

The official said the mortuary, which has a capacity to carry only 11 bodies, was now full due to some of the bodies which remain unclaimed.

“The normal situation is that if a body has not been claimed for a certain period of time, the hospital through the office of the District Medical Officer, applies for a pauper burial, but this had not been the situation in Shurugwi,” said the official.

“The bodies just keep piling up and the mortuary is becoming a health hazard.”

Acting Midlands provincial medical director, Dr Reginald Mhene, said the skulls and skeletal bones of deceased persons would have been brought by the police with cases where investigations were still pending.

“From the report I got from the District Medical Officer, those bones in the mortuary were brought by the police, they are still investigating if there are missing persons before making a decision,” he said.

Midlands provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Emmanuel Mahoko, said he was still looking for details through the Shurugwi Charge office to find out if they had missing people with pending cases.

“I am still checking with Shurugwi Charge Office if we have any missing persons cases with their remains still at Shurugwi District Hospital mortuary,” he said.