Gauteng Health denies morgue backlog at Helen Joseph
The Gauteng Department of Health has refuted claims of a backlog of unprocessed bodies at Helen Joseph Hospital due to a shortage of printer cartridges.
The Democratic Alliance alleges that deceased patients could not be transferred to government mortuaries for nearly two weeks because of printing delays.
The department clarified on Sunday that only one body is currently at the mortuary — a patient who was declared dead on arrival last Wednesday.
According to spokesperson Motalatale Modiba, the patient was initially unidentified, but the family, traced to KwaZulu-Natal, has since been notified.
The body is now set to be handed over to forensic services for processing.
Modiba acknowledged that the facility experienced printing issues between 17 and 23 June due to delayed payments to service providers, but contingency measures allowed five pending cases to be processed by 24 June.
“The department would like to reiterate that currently Helen Joseph Hospital has no corpses that are outstanding and awaiting to be processed as a result of printing challenges,” Modiba said.
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