- Noel Thompson
Curious onlookers at the scene of the killing of three gunmen in Lucea, Hanover, last Friday night.
Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter
THE ISLAND'S major hospitals are coping with the demands for morgue space, despite the number of violent deaths in recent weeks.
During a nine-day period ending Saturday, November 9, 42 persons died violently.
But the hospitals, many of which have contracts with funeral homes to take remains after post-mortems have been done, say their refrigeration capacity is coping adequately.
The Kingston Public (KPH) and the University hospitals, the Corporate Area's two largest institutions, have refrigeration capacity to store 12 bodies each.
CONTRACT ARRANGEMENTS
KPH's new chief executive officer (CEO), Donald Farquharson, said that the hospital's fridge stores the remains of person who die at that facility.
"We use the fridge for bodies which require post-mortem. These are the bodies of persons who would have died in the hospital and which require refrigeration until autopsies are done," he said last Friday.
According to him, "When someone is pronounced dead at the scene of a violent crime, the bodies go directly to the agency that we have contracted and that is Brown's Funeral Parlour."
Mr. Farquharson said the arrangement was between KPH and Brown's, and "I am not aware of any complaints from Brown's about overcrowding."
When The Sunday Gleaner contacted the University Hospital, a woman who identified herself as the executive assistant to CEO, Karl Davis, said,"Mr. Davis said he is not aware of any increased demands."
She said the hospital's storage capacity is for 12 bodies, and, "after post-mortems are done, the families make arrangements with whichever funeral home they can afford."
She added, however, that "if they are indigent, the bodies go to Brown's Funeral Parlour."
A spokeswoman at Brown's confirmed the storage arrangement, but said there were no indication of increased demands.
"We store bodies for KPH, and we also have private arrangements."
Ferdinand Madden, of Madden's Funeral Parlour, said there is quick turn over at their morgue facilities.
"The families are clearing the bodies as soon as the post-mortems are done," he said, Friday.
According to him, Madden's does not presently take bodies from hospital morgues as "We only store bodies for the National Chest Hospital. Brown's has the contract with the KPH."
According to him, "What we are seeing is a slowing down in the rate of post-mortems."
Lyn's funeral directors, in Mandeville, say they have arrangements with the hospitals and the police to accept and store remains.
"We have an arrangement between the hospitals and the police, to store the bodies until the families make a decision as to what they will do," Calvin Lyn said in an interview.
He said very often they have been asked to be undertakers.
Government has at least two pathologists, who perform post-mortems for murder cases and they often make court appearances. One hospital source said the two pathologists had to be everywhere "as bodies were turning up everywhere." Meanwhile, the Constabulary Communication Network said despite the recent crime wave, when compared to last year this time, there was a significant reduction in major crimes.
