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A Khayelitsha undertaker said significant delays had been experienced at Tygerberg Hospital, where some families had been waiting to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones for the past week.
People’s Choice Funerals and Mortuary undertakers prepare a casket for burial. Image: Kaylynn Palm / EWN
CAPE TOWN – The Western Cape Health Department said it was working with the Department of Home Affairs to expedite the process of delivering the bodies to funeral homes.
A Khayelitsha funeral home said major delays had been experienced at Tygerberg Hospital, where some families had been waiting to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones for the past week.
The concern is that those who died from COVID-19 should be buried within a five-day period, but with the increase in the death toll and the volume of patients, tension is being felt at all levels.
The SA Funeral Federation said it was concerned that the second wave of COVID-19 had created delays at funerals.
Securing burial spaces, sticking to cremation schedules, and ensuring rooms have room to store bodies are just a few of the many problems.
Patrick Geva, a Khayelitsha Undertaker working for Ntsika Burial Society, said it was difficult to satisfy his clients at the time when they had to wait hours and even days for COVID-19 bodies to be delivered to the Hospital Tygerberg.
“Hopefully where they keep the bodies they will hire more people because we wait, wait and wait. There are people, waiting there, who still want to go to Durban with their loved ones but are trapped there.”
Tygerberg Hospital spokeswoman Laticia Pienaar said they were working to remedy the situation as the facility was dealing with a high volume of patients and more deaths than usual.
“In partnership with the Department of the Interior, steps have been put in place to expedite the process. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
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