Monday, July 18, 2011

Mulago runs out of formalin, embalming fees hiked

Formalin, a solution usually used in the treatment of dead bodies has become a scarce item- one of those lacking in the histology or pathology wing of the national referral hospital and now workers there have resorted to buying it themselves from outside the hospital gates hence, a lucrative business has emerged as they heavily charge those who come for their dead.

An insider at the mortuary told The Razor last week that the hospital ran out of this solution four months ago giving pathologists a fertile business opportunity. “You see, for quite some time now the hospital does not have formalin and so in order to keep working efficiently we buy it ourselves and do the service for whoever wants it done,” said one of the workers at Mulago Hospital mortuary who preferred anonymity for he is not authorized to speak about the matter.

He continued that even when one of the doctors at Mulago loses a relative, he has to buy the solution and take it to them for embalming.

“What I am telling you is the truth, even those guys up there (doctors) buy it from outside or from us if they need any service but you can’t find formalin any where here,” he added.

The Razor has also learnt that for about four months now, the freezers at the mortuary have not been working. According to a reliable source from the Private Patients’ department at the hospital, these freezers broke down months ago giving the workers at the mortuary a hard time to preserve the dead bodies and they also resorted to hiking the fees paid by the grieving relatives to have their dead.

According to a source, the freezers broke down due to poor maintenance, a thing which the assistant public relations officer and administrator private patients scheme Sarah Mulongo refuted. “Of course it is not true that they were down due to poor maintenance, instead they were being cleaned,” she said and quickly added that the charges are made according to the way one wanted his relative’s body embalmed.

“I cannot clarify on that but what I know is that one is charged according to the period he wants the body preserved. I mean there is long term and short term postmortem,” she added.

However, one of the victims of this unlawful extortion is Patrick Kagenda, a journalist. He asserts that when he lost his twins he was charged ShsI50, 000 after pleading with the mortuary officials.

“I lost twins two years ago and I was made to pay ShsI50,000 without a receipt,” he says. Kagenda adds that getting a body from the freezers is never a joke. “They told me at first that the bodies were not there and sent me to city council mortuary until one of them told me to show some ‘commitment’ which meant I had to pay something and eventually I was made to pay that much.

Getting a body out of those freezers is not a joke,” he adds. Sharifa Nnamuli, an elderly woman from Kiboga also fell victim last week; she told this paper that one is charged according to his/her appearance. “Actually I do not know the exact fee” she said.

The public is subjected to double grief as they are daily being extorted. The policy is if one dies at the hospital ward, the body is taken to the mortuary where it must be accessed free of charge but the condition is otherwise.

“Now they are asking for ShsI50,000 which I do not have, what will a poor person do in this country?” said Nnamuli.

Apparently, the notice board reads that embalming charges are ShsI0, 000 for children, Shs65,000 short term and Shs85,000 long term for adults.

When contacted, the head of mortuary services Dr Dan Wamala was reluctant to comment on the matter saying he had no clue about what was happening.

“I have no clue about that and I am not authorised to give any information about a government institution go, to the public relations officer,” he said.