The Southern Regional Hospital in Dangriga has a new morgue. On Monday August 26th the Minister of Health, Hon. Pablo Marin; Dangriga Area Representative, Hon. Frank ‘Papa’ Mena; as well as the CEO in the Ministry Dr. George Gough; and the Southern Regional Manager Dr. Frandela Gutierrez were on hand to declare the new morgue open.
According to the CEO, the old morgue had stopped working because of a condenser which could not be sourced locally. That led to the ministry having to source a new morgue which took between 6 to 8 weeks to be brought into the country. That new morgue has a capacity to hold 4 bodies. Still, there will be efforts made to acquire the part for the old morgue to be made functional. That will increase the capacity for the morgue to hold 8 bodies.
According to Dr. Frandela Gutierrez, the 4 spaces that the morgue can hold is easily taken up as the area is quickly growing and the demand is great. Added to that, there are instances when persons request that their loved ones are held longer than 3 days sometimes up to 10 days. That creates a situation where spaces are taken up and not allowing others to be able to be stored.
Dr. George Gough says that along with the new morgue which costed some 95 thousand dollars, the facility had to be upgraded with plumbing and other retrofitting being done. That, he says, will bring the total rehabilitation of the morgue up to close to a quarter million dollars.
