Mortuaries, plagued by power failures, failing refrigerators and lack of chemicals to operate properly, have to keep corpses for extended periods of time while relatives try to scrape together what they can to bid the deceased a final farewell. Many relatives never return and, after nine months, abandoned corpses are given pauper burials by the state.
“The situation is desperate; we have seen people disappear immediately aftera relative admitted in the hospital dies. This has created serious problems,as the mortuary here at Mpilo hospital cannot cope – bodies are piled on top of each Other,” said Ishamael Moyo, who sells cheap wooden coffins to poor desperate families just outside the mortuary. – IRIN