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The Morgue Malfunction At Southern Regional
posted (April 23, 2019)
The PUP is sounding the alarm of a major health concern for the districts of Stann Creek and Toledo. They report that the Southern Regional Hospital's morgue has been down for about a month.

A press release from the party today says quote, "The entire nation should be appalled and outraged by the revelation… This is unacceptable, and yet, the Ministry of Health has nothing to say on this matter. What is worse is that this would have gone under the radar were it not for the death of a woman last week in Dangriga, where her husband was told that her body could not be kept at the morgue because it was not working."

The PUP's release then attacks the Government's spending for the Yes to the ICJ campaign. Their statement says, quote, "This UDP Administration is able to find millions to pay for propaganda…to try to convince the people how to vote in the referendum, but cannot fix the morgue at the Southern Regional Hospital…" End quote.

And it seems that the PUP's condemnation prompted the Ministry of Health to acknowledge the Southern Regional Hospital morgue's issues.

Their late evening statement find the PUP outrage to be quote, "...of poor taste in terms of politicizing the death of an individual in search of political mileage." End quote.

The Ministry says that they have already apologized to the family for this "systemic failure".

They go on to explain that although the morgue at Souther Regional is non-functional at this time, the hospital has a responsibility to transport bodies to either the Western Regional Hospital or the Punta Gorda Community Hospital morgue, or otherwise if requested by families. The Ministry says that a vehicle is assigned to provide that transportation. They say that this was simply not communicated to the family of the deceased from Dangriga, which caused some confusion, but it has already been resolved.

The Health Ministry's statement says quote, "The Ministry will invest in the repairs of the present morgue units while at the same time preparing to make a case for additional funding to purchase new units." End quote.

Apparently, a part is needed and when it arrives the morgue unit should be working, quote, "over the medium term within a week's time." End quote.

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