THE EDITOR, Sir:

Since the late 1960s through to the present time, the City of Kingston and island of Jamaica have been without a public morgue, as the old morgue formerly situated at Darling Street in Kingston was abandoned by the Government and the building vandalised.

This morgue was inadvisably built next door to the abattoir and Seprod Ltd; and pressure was brought to bear for its removal due to the odour emanating from it from time to time due to the improper storage of decomposing and decomposed bodies which created a health hazard.

Post-mortem examinations used to be held at the Kingston Public Hospital morgue with bodies from all over Kingston and St. Andrew. This was a very unhealthy practice, as someone dying from a contagious disease could cause an outbreak in the very hospital whose function would be to prevent and treat same.

Forensic pathologist

The operation was subsequentlyremoved to the Spanish Town General Hospital after the closure of the KPH morgue for refurbishing. The parish of St. Thomas was added to the list, because of the absence of a forensic pathologist

All across the island, post-mortems (coroner's cases) are being held in the public hospital morgue death did not occur in the hospital and private funeral homes, (that are not designed for the purpose). This matter needs to be addressed sooner than later.

The Government identified and procured land for the building of a modern public morgue facility. Plans were drawn and approved by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation, but the funding for the construction was never provided by the Government.

Removal and storage

The Government shells out millions of dollars per year to cover the cost of removal and storage of bodies in the absence of a public morgue. I believe that the removal should be handled by private services providers (funeral homes) but the storage of the bodies should be done by the state in its own facility.

National elections are due some time this year and whichever party forms the new Government, the construction of a national public morgue, equipped with modern State-of-the-art equipment and a laboratory to conduct toxicology, histology and pathology tests, should be a priority on the shopping list.

I am, etc.,

JOSEPH M. CORNWALLl (Snr.)

House of Tranquillity

Funeral Home Ltd

tranquilityfh@yahoo.com