Minister Imposes Strict Measures at Mandeville Hospital Morgue

Minister of Health, Hon. Rudyard Spencer, has directed that certain actions be taken, as it relates to the five persons who were interdicted after the discovery that the body of a new born baby went missing from the Mandeville Regional Hospital’s Morgue.
Mr. Spencer spoke to the issue during a meeting Thursday afternoon (September 10), involving the five workers, their union and officials from the Southern Regional Health Authority and the Health Ministry.
The Minister also informed the meeting of his decision to put certain restrictions on the persons who have access to the hospital’s morgue.
“I want to make it clear that no unauthorised person is to be in the morgue, at any time. They should in no way have access to the key to the facility. If this is breached, we will then be forced to take more serious action,” he said.
Additional measures have been taken to better secure the morgue. These include replacement of the current door, and changing of the locking mechanism to one that cannot be duplicated, with only one officer having access to the key and being accountable for all activities in the morgue.
Other measures include a strengthening of the existing systems which were put in place to ensure that the morgue is properly and securely operated. These include, ensuring that all bodies entering and leaving are logged, as per established guidelines, with proper tagging and labelling, as well as cross checking for accuracy. All persons accessing the morgue must also sign in on entering and upon leaving, and visitors/relatives must be accompanied by the Chief Orderly.
Mr. Spencer made it clear that, of the five workers, only the Chief Orderly will remain in his position, and four new persons are to be employed to work in the morgue. Of the other four who were on interdiction, two had already been placed in different areas of the hospital and the other two will be reassigned to other areas by the CEO.
The Minister expressed his strong displeasure with the situation and cautioned the team to ensure that there is no repeat of this incident.