After months of operating as the main treatment centre where serious cases of Covid and variants are treated and where many victims are registered, the New ENT Hospital in Vacoas has fitted out a cold room in service since Monday 25 October according to the Ministry of Health.
Social media users are wondering
A fact that the population did not care about. “It curdled my blood to learn this news. It never crossed my mind that a brand-new hospital does not have a fully equipped morgue, especially that it has been transformed into a treatment centre for Covid 19. We have been hearing of dead people almost every day from ENT Hospital. Now, I wonder how the bodies were kept until then“, says one social media user. This question is shared by the most worried social media users’ population.
Waiting of 1 to 6 hours at most
To answer this question, a nurse at the ENT Hospital reveals that these bodies are covered and placed in a space where there is little movement, until they are recovered by the authorities concerned who would proceed with the funeral. “Generally, they would only remain in the hospital compound between one hour and six hours at the most, unless the death occurred very late at night. This is a question of the availability of ambulances if the body is going for an autopsy or of funeral vehicles to prepare for the funeral. But it is true that such a hospital should have a morgue.”
An air-conditioned room for a dozen corpses
According to the director of the ENT hospital, Dr Sok Appadoo, the intention to install a morgue at this hospital is already on the agenda of the Ministry of Health. For the time being, the hospital will depend on a cold room, “the room that was used to keep equipment has been converted into a cold room. Air conditioners have been installed to keep the temperature at a minimum of 17 degrees Celsius. This section has been operational since last Monday and has a capacity for 10 to 15 deceased persons who can be duly preserved,” said the director.
XLD refutes on social networks
This issue was raised in parliament by Xavier Duval on Tuesday 26 October during his Private Notice Question (PNQ). The latter contests that this cold room was already operational on the eve of the parliamentary session on Tuesday 26 October. On social networks, he denounced “It is false to say that the air-conditioned room at the ENT Hospital is operational since Monday. In fact, it has only been operational since Wednesday afternoon, more than 24 hours after the PNQ. And above all, when it is recommended that a body be preserved at a temperature of no more than 2 degrees, how can it be accepted that an air-conditioned room at 15 degrees will do the trick? This is nothing but a sham! Is it so difficult for the Ministry to get refrigerated sofas to maintain the bodies of the deceased in adequate hygienic conditions, respect, and dignity, while waiting for the construction of a morgue? “He appealed for this morgue to be built urgently out of respect for the deceased.
