Ambulance near Giada Hospital Mortuary. | Photo: Joice Evans/Eye Radio.

Families have been abandoning their critically ill loved ones at the hospital over the cost of medication, and burial, the Deputy Administrator of Giada-Military Referral Hospital has said.

Brigadier General John Madhel told Eye Radio that many families, who cannot afford to pay the burial cost of 80,000 pounds, often end up leaving their sick relatives at the military hospital.

“What they do is, once you have someone at home, and you can’t pay his burial money, when you see him or her almost dying, you put him/her on motorcycle or Rickshaw, you come and throw and disappear for good,” he said.

The official said the public resorted to the practice to flee from the responsibility and leave it to the government.

As a result, he said, relatives of the sick persons continue to burden the hospital with the cost of medication, or burial in case the patient dies.

According to General Madhel, the situation arises from the dire economic conditions in the country.

“Many of the people are doing it, why and what is the reason, because of the economic situation he or she can’t manage to pay for the tomb and can’t manage to pay for the person to be kept in the mortuary.”

“What comes to their mind is to leave him/her [sick relatives] on the hospital bed and so that the government will take responsibility,” he told Eye Radio.

Juba has two government mortuaries, the one at Juba Teaching Hospital and Military Hospital, in addition to UNMISS mortuary.

In June, health officials at Juba Teaching Hospital raised a similar complaint, saying the hospital mortuary was stuck with sixty unclaimed dead bodies, which were too expensive to be given a decent burial.

Dr. Anthony Lupai, Medical Director at the hospital said most of the corpses were taken to the hospital mortuary for identification by good Samaritans and police.

However, he said their relatives do not come to the hospital to claim the deceased loved ones.

For his part, Gen Madhel also said the number of deaths stem from death by illness, suicide, drowning and injures.

“There are people who died the normal death, there are others who died because of suicide and other from drowning and others with injures were brought from far places and will come and die in the hospital.”

He added that the hospital mortuary, which has a capacity of 24 bodies, is now full and beyond capacity.

He further called on the people of goodwill to help build a bigger mortuary.

“When it [mortuary] is full, we place some of the bodies down near the Fridge because it’s functioning well, our problem is fuel, when there is fuel, the corpses do not rot.”

“I call upon anyone who is willing to help expand the space of the mortuary, to be a big mortuary like other countries such as Kenya, and Uganda.”