Morgue Overcrowded in the Bahamas

With 94 murders on the books so far for the year in addition to a number of other deaths, PMH Administrator Coralee Adderley said 2010 has been sort of a whirlwind year for the hospital’s morgue.

Whether by murder, suicide, natural cause or some other reason, it has had to deal with a mass number of dead bodies this year.

“Given the numbers we have been having in our morgue we are at capacity almost all the time,” she said. “What you would hear in the public is just those deaths from violence, but think about the number of deaths we have in the hospital or at home as a result of old age or heart attacks that are never reported.

“Our morgue has been extremely continues to grow in terms of demand. So we’ve been working closely with physicians and funeral home sot get persons out of our morgues as soon as we can.”

But the PMH administrator added that things do not always go as planned.

Mrs. Adderley said sometimes a dead body is left in the morgue for various reasons.

She added that while the number of unclaimed bodies varies from time to time, the numbers are not extremely high.

In the odd case that there is an unidentified body left, Mrs. Adderley added that the hospital works closely with the Coroner’s Court.

Mrs. Adderley said usually, once all the legal work is sorted out, a pauper’s burial is then performed, a service which is facilitated by the government.

Mrs. Adderley added that there are a number of reasons why bodies are left in the morgue.

“You do find sometimes people are in the morgues, and we know who their families are, but it the bodies are left for financial reasons,” Mrs. Adderley said. “Because no funeral home is going to take you until there is some commitment.

“So until such time they remain with us. Until that family has identified a funeral home and made arrangements with the family… that sometimes causes the delay. So sometimes families can’t decide on a funeral home or commit to one because they don’t have the means and then the bodies would stay with us.”

But Mrs. Adderley said even before this year’s 94 murders were recorded, the morgue saw an increase due to deaths by non-communicable diseases.

But she said the murders definitely took the numbers up a notch.

The PMH administrator added that the city morgue is looking to add an additional cooler that would store an additional 20 to 30 bodies.

The cooler should be in place by early next year.