SPIRALING COVID-19 cases in the country have put immense pressure on many sectors, especially health. In this article, Features Chief Reporter MARTIN NYIRENDA looks at how the increased number of deaths has overstretched the capacity of mortuaries in Ndola.

WITH growing numbers of people handling the remains of those who have died from the coronavirus pandemic, mortuaries in Ndola are overwhelmed with Brought-in-Dead (BID) cases which are related to the spike in COVID-19 cases especially in Ndola district.
Ndola has two private funeral parlours which have since been overwhelmed in recent times due the influx of bodies which are taken there as a result of COVID-19 related deaths.
With this, some residents in Ndola cannot be accused for suggesting that the biggest teaching health facility in the district is doing everything to accommodate corpses in the wake of swelling coronavirus deaths.
In the same vein, privately owned mortuaries in Ndola contend that the coronavirus related fatalities being handled at some parlours have overwhelmed the capacity to accommodate the bodies of the deceased.
Ndola St Ann’s Funeral Parlour Branch Manager Cathage Mwilu recently said during the second wave of the pandemic, the funeral home had been receiving on average about five bodies in a each week.
He said although things had been bad, the situation in the last two weeks has been much better with the funeral parlour receiving just about two bodies per week.
But Mr Mwilu warned that the situation might deteriorate later in the month with the possibility of the funeral parlour receiving an overwhelming number of more bodies.
At Ideal Funeral Parlour, about 54 bodes were received between February and March this year.
“During the third wave, we recently processed about eight cases in a single day; half of these would come under insurance. We are feeling the impact of the pandemic,” said Funeral Services Group (FSG) assurance officer Micheal Chungu whose facility was opened recently.
FSG, which has its head office in Botswana, is the holding company of Ideal Funeral Parlour.
Mr Chungu said of late, the mortality rate has been high especially of people aged over 60.
He said his company received bodies from surrounding areas of Copperbelt Province, including areas like Solwezi and Kapiri Mposhi.
He said the beginning of last month saw daily disposal of bodies at the funeral parlour.
Mr Chungu said his facility was processing on average eight cases, which was not an easy task.
He said people seeking funeral services were steadily rising due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Chungu said September was likely to have many surprises relating to the number of fatalities arising from the coronavirus.
“We expect big trouble during the month of September this year as far as cases of COVID-19 related deaths are concerned if nothing changes.
We may expect more bodies. Certainly, there are some statistics which are not reported because not everything can be captured,” he said.
Mr Chungu said his facility receives a number of cases beside those which are handled by Northern Command Military Hospital, St Francis Mission Hospital, Kang’onga in Bwana Mkubwa Constituency and Ndola Teaching Hospital (NTH).
“Outside these health facilities, plenty of bodies come for processing here, including those from other parts of the province,” he said.
A Luanshya resident who declined to be identified, said there is need for the Government to expand the capacity of mortuaries in the district to accommodate more corpses.
He said recently, a neighbour died and the body was taken to Roan Hospital morgue where there was limited space.
One source said there is need for relevant authorities to consider upgrading mortuaries to meet the swelling population as well as people dying from communities where the population is on the rise.
The source said most of the morgues were built after the country attained Independence.
NTH Senior Medical Superintendent Joseph Musowoya said the health facility has been in existence since the 1950s and 1960s.
Dr Musowoya said the southern part of the hospital accommodates most of the wards which were constructed later and officially commissioned in 1969.
“Since that time, the main hospital building has had a 30-body capacity mortuary. In addition to that, the hospital has another stand-alone mortuary with a body capacity of 12 and this is reserved for infectious bodies and usually only used when there is a disease outbreak. This gives a total hospital mortuary capacity of 42 bodies,” Dr Musowoya said.
With the socio-demographic dynamics of the catchment population having changed over the past 50 years, Dr Musowoya said there have been serious gains attained by the health sector and NTH in particular, in terms of improved healthcare services and reduced hospital mortality.
Dr Musowoya said there has been an increase in the catchment population and enhanced mobility of the people.
He said this, added to the surge in coronavirus cases and resultant fatalities, has resulted in the static mortuary capacity being overwhelmed.
He said putting together the hospital deaths, the BIDs, unclaimed and unidentified bodies that tend to stay for a very long time before disposal, has made it clear that the hospital needs to expand the mortuary space.
“Management has since identified two rooms within the current mortuary section that are earmarked for conversion into cold-rooms by putting up shelves and cooling systems, among other things. That way, we will be talking about a mortuary capacity of about 100,” he said.
Nearly 10 years ago, then Copperbelt Minister John Kufuna said there was need to expand the capacity of the NTH mortuary to end instances of some bodies not being refrigerated.
The former minister said this during an inspection where he found about six bodies that had been brought in, lying on the floor and on some trolleys outside the refrigerators.
He said the situation was not good because the dead needed to be kept in better conditions.
Mr Kufuna, said more mortuary units would be installed at the hospital to improve the situation.
Ndola’s UNIP Kabushi Constituency parliamentary candidate William Ngulube, who last month lost his aunt after she was admitted to NTH, said the morgue at the hospital was built many years ago and has not been expended to accommodate the increasing number of bodies deposited at the facility.
He urged the Government to initiate a deliberate programme to ensure that the facility was extended to accommodate the ever increasing population in the district.
In Lusaka, the upmarket Leopards Hill Memorial Park (LHMP) recently expressed an upswing in the rising number of coronavirus infections among its staff.
The park warned that the rising infections among its staff might lead to the closure of the cemetery.
The COVID-19 related deaths are, in many ways, overstretching the health facilities in the country.
“With more and more staff at Leopards Hill Memorial Park testing positive to coronavirus, it is more likely that LHMP will have to shut down,” LHMP proprietor Sipho Phiri said in a tweet recently.
Mr Phiri said: “People still come to funerals in the hundreds and have long services when we are operating at six times our capacity.
The sooner funerals are limited to 10 people the better it will be for everyone. It’s wild.”
Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary for Technical Services Kennedy Malama recently said the continuing spike in coronavirus fatalities was something that should not be taken lightly considering that “our mortuaries are struggling with space in Lusaka due to the increase in the number of deaths.”
Dr Malama said losing lives at the current rate,which his office was reporting, as a result of a preventable disease is disheartening, particularly that public health and social measures, when adhered to, can have an immediate impact on the COVID-19 situation in the country.
With a clear indication that the coronavirus transmissions are still taking place at household, community and institutional levels countrywide due to general laxity in adhering to the public health measures, the need to expand capacity in mortuaries must be considered.
Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Bright Nundwe said it is unfortunate that high numbers of coronavirus cases are being recorded in districts like Mpongwe and the rest of the province.
Mr Nundwe said information received by his office suggested that almost half of the population of Mpongwe district is affected by the virus.
The situation in isolation centres is equally not impressive as the facilities are full to capacity.
As a result, the need for Ndola district to increase the capacity of mortuaries, partly due to the growing population in the province, cannot be over emphasized.