Residents of Matthew’s Ridge and neighbouring communities in Region One are closer to finally having a proper morgue to store the bodies of the dead with the opening of tenders yesterday for construction of the facility.
The bids for the Ministry of Health project, which has been estimated to cost $12M, were opened at the National Procurement and Tender Admin-istration Board (NPTAB) office at Kingston.
Over the years, there have been frequent complaints by Matthew’s Ridge residents about the unavailability of a cold storage facility to house the bodies of the loved ones who have died. The area that is used as a morgue is currently a zinc structure which has no refrigeration system and is so small that it can only accommodate one body at a time. There is no electricity supply to the facility although the hospital is powered by a generating system.
Corpses are stored in a large wooden box, which is lined with what appears to be zinc, and then packed with ice.
It is the responsibility of the respective relatives of the dead to cover the cost for the ice, which isn’t produced on a large scale basis like in Port Kaituma. It is for this reason that most families bury their dead within 24 hours of their deaths.
The table below represents the respective companies and their bids for the facility.
