Harare Hospital in mass burial of 700 infants

HARARE Central Hospital last Friday conducted mass burials for 700 neo-natal infants, whose remains had piled up at the hospital's mortuary over several months.

The hospital had been unable to incinerate or bury the bodies, citing financial problems.

Nyaradzo Funeral Services provided coffins and undertaker services at a hugely discounted rate, while the Harare City Council provided burial space. The Registrar General Office’s, which issued out burial orders.

In a joint statement by the hospital and Nyaradzo, the hospital’s spokesperson, Philisia Mandeya said they were unable to cope with bodies of infants brought to its mortuaries by the police as well as those referred to the institution by the Department of Social Welfare.

She said there were also cases of mothers who dump their deceased infants at the hospital and never collect them for burial.

“The situation in our public hospitals has been told over and over again. Because of the breakdown of our incinerator and other reasons, we have been unable to expeditiously dispose of the neo-natal infants, resulting in the bodies accumulating in our mortuaries," Mandeya said.

“We are grateful to the support received from Nyaradzo, the City of Harare and the RG’s Office — their involvement has enabled us to get around what had appeared to be an insurmountable task.

“We are appealing to the corporate sector to emulate the example set by Nyaradzo. We are not in any way suggesting that they should support Harare Central Hospital alone; we are basically saying they should extend the support to other institutions that are also in need.”

Monday 12 November 2012

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-9527-Harare+in+mass+burial+of+700+infants/news.aspx