Footage of nearly a dozen bodies left to decay outside one of Papua New Guinea’s major hospitals has highlighted the pressures on the country’s health system and prompted calls for urgent reform.
The three-minute video shows 11 bodies on bunk beds and gurneys inside what appears to be a shed being used as a temporary mortuary. The building has no proper air conditioning and the windows and doors are open to the elements. The bodies are left there for families to collect or until space frees up in the morgue.
The shocking video, shared publicly on a popular Facebook page, was filmed by an unidentified man between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. In it, he explains in Pidgin how long the bodies had been left outside.
“Some of these bodies here, right now, have been left out here for four or five days now, it’s now Christmas and New Year’s period, they didn’t just arrive, some of them have decayed,” he says.
The bodies are shown to be deteriorating rapidly due to the tropical weather.
As the man films, another body is carried in by family members.
In response to the video, the Port Moresby general hospital said in a statement that the mortuary could not take any more bodies. It said the morgue was extremely overcrowded largely due to relatives not picking up bodies in a timely manner.
It said there would be a mass burial next week and there were 20 bodies waiting to go into the morgue. The hospital said the government would try to address the issue in 2023.
Dr Kone Sobi, Port Moresby general hospital’s director for medical services, said some bodies had not been collected because relatives could not afford either of the private funeral homes in the city. He said a mass burial was planned for Thursday.
The hospital last carried out a mass burial of unclaimed bodies in 2021 because the mortuary was full. The morgue, built 30 years ago, was initially meant to cater for 120 bodies but now handles about 200.
Port Moresby’s deputy governor Dadi Toka Jnr said the public hospital needs a new mortuary facility.
“The size of the city has grown, so the next step here moving forward is to look at how we expand the morgue.”
“Discussions are being held as we speak, we are looking at options, some designs have been presented, so the announcements will be made in due course.”
There are three additional container refrigerators outside the main mortuary with a capacity of 62 bodies. The facility receives up to 20 bodies a day, the number increasing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The morgue is always full, the space for one body to be laid is packed with four or five,” said a former hospital worker who wanted to remain anonymous.
“It happens every time – once there is a death, the body is left out in the layout. If there is space then they are brought into the morgue.”
Many horrified Port Moresby residents have called for action from the country’s highest authorities.
The government and health minister have been contacted for comment.