President of the Bahamas Allied Healthcare Workers Union, Krista Burrows-Campbell revealed in a recent interview that the morgue at the Princess Margaret Hospital has over 200 bodies being processed at the facility that has a 80 person comfortable capacity.

Morticians are also expressing difficulty in processing bodies for burial. President of Vaughn Jones Memorial Center, Vaughn Jones spoke with ZNS News on Wednesday. He said, “I had a service that was scheduled today for 2 o’ clock and I just got the body early this morning so you know my staff and I we work very quicky so that we can be able to meet that deadline for the family today. Funeral homes that are doing 5-6 funerals a week it’s very stressful for you to get death certificate.”

President of the Bahamas Funeral Directors Association, Kirsch Ferguson also commented on challenges that he has had receiving bodies from the morgue in a timely manner. He said, “that problem primarily bodies being received partially decomposed or in a state of not being able to be viewed by their loved ones. So, yes we are faced with a problem based in what’s happening at the hospital under the circumstances and prior to all that’s been happening over the past couple of years.”

Ferguson advised families “not to make arrangements or set any funeral date until the bodies are in our possession and that’s something straight across the board with most morticians because of what we face with the morgue, the Coroner’s Office being able to release bodies and the police force being able to do proper investigation.”

Staff at the morgue staged a sickout earlier this week citing hazardous working conditions due to fumes from a recent diesel spill. Operations at the facilities were back to normal on Wednesday.

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