Morgues ‘not ready’ for Covid deaths

AuthorSam Olley
Published date09 November 2021
Publication titleBay of Plenty Times
Not all district health boards have morgues and many that do are wary the virus may overwhelm capacity.

The Ministry of Health’s influenza pandemic plan written in 2017 warned mass fatalities could over-run services storing and disposing of bodies.

It suggested bringing in refrigerated containers to stop them decomposing.

But the plan said “care should be taken to avoid thawing and re-freezing remains”.

RNZ asked every DHB in the country about their morgue capacities.

West Coast and Bay of Plenty DHBs do not have morgues — instead, they rely on storage at funeral businesses.

Bay of Plenty DHB bought and blessed two refrigerated containers last year to prepare for COVID-19 fatalities — one is at Whakatāne Hospital and the other in Tauranga.

MidCentral DHB has also brought a container onsite at Palmerston North Hospital and Waikato DHB brought three containers to Waikato Hospital last year to store up to 54 bodies.

The West Coast, Hawke’s Bay, South Canterbury, and Southern DHBs have also planned to take on containers if required in uncontrolled outbreaks.

Whanganui, Auckland, Waitematā and Counties Manukau did not answer RNZ’s questions.

But overall University of Auckland epidemiology professor Rod Jackson does not think our morgues are ready for waves of COVID deaths.

“Nothing in New Zealand is prepared for an outbreak of COVID, a major outbreak.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about the morgues, hospitals, [or] primary care,” he said.

He expected mass fatalities...

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