SHURUGWI - A clinic here has converted a toilet into a mortuary after several patients died before being transferred to their district hospital. Zvamavande clinic has been waiting for several months for a mortuary to be constructed on their premises but nothing had been done. Out of desperation, employees at the clinic converted the ladies toilet into a mortuary.A local councillor, Gift Mudara, confirmed the development. “As long as there is no mortuary at the clinic there will always be a problem. There are more than enough bricks contributed by the community but that is all there is. We need assistance in the form of cement and all the other materials. In the meantime, I think the clinic will continue using the toilet,” he said.
Mudara appealed to the business community in Shurugwi to assist the community in building the mortuary, saying it has been on the cards for a long time. The councillor said there was no way the clinic could avoid admitting patients as the nearest health centre was Shurugwi District Hospital. “The patients who die at the clinic are those in transit to the district hospital and there is no way we can turn them away,” said Mudara.
The Provincial Medical Director, Dr Anderson Chimusoro, said his office had not yet received any reports of the makeshift mortuary, but confirmed that the lack of proper facilities to store the dead was a problem. The government has long term plans to develop the clinic and the situation will be addressed. In the meantime we encourage relatives to collect bodies of their dead relatives as soon as they are deceased,” said Chimusoro.