Corpses left in limbo at Helen Joseph Hospital due to a shortage of cartridges

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is horrified to learn that people who have died over the past 13 days at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg cannot be transferred to government mortuaries because the hospital has no printer cartridges to print the necessary documents. Nursing union Denosa says this type of issue impacts service delivery adding that one printer cartridge is used for multiple services, which results in other services not being catered for. Meanwhile the Gauteng Health Department has moved to refute the claims of a backlog in unprocessed bodies at the hospital’s morgue due to a shortage of printer cartridges to print the necessary documentation.

The department confirmed that the issues were due to delayed payment processing to two service providers earlier this month. Phemelo speaks to DA Guateng Health Spokesperson Madeleine Hicklin and Denosa’s Gauteng secretary, Bongani Mazibuko.