Kerema hospital morgue not operating, MP says

By OGIA MIAMEL
THE Kerema General Hospital mortuary has not been operating for the last two years, Gulf Governor Chris Haiveta, says.
Haiveta asked Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Sir Puka Temu in Parliament last Friday for immediate assistance from the department to address this major health issue in the province.
“Kerema Hospital has one morgue and it is not working properly for almost two years now, it caused a lot of difficulties with the management.
“I asked them and got a brief but it has to meet standards of the hospital so when you (Sir Puka) are ready come sit down with us, so provincial government can work with you,” he said.
He added that they have also fixed the water supply situation in the province so now water would be available at all times.
Sir Puka in response said: “I thanked the governor for his initiative to work together with us in particularly the morgue and water situation. I will make myself available this week so that both of us, and our technical teams can work together to address this issue.
“Many morgues are filling up, our relatives are not picking them up on time and look at 9-Mile there. It’s already filled up,” Sir Puka said.
“With this regard I want to raise an issue of how do we make land available or go against some of the traditions and bring up the issue of cremation.
“Those are issues that we really need to discuss so I would sit down with the governor for Gulf, so that our technical teams can sit down and address the urgent issue of the morgue.”