THE revelation that four bodies at the mortuary in Lautoka were awaiting the release of their DNA results is going to attract attention for many reasons.
Shelvin Rohit, of Tagimoucia Funeral Services, confirmed this while responding to questions regarding a recent incident in which the family of a drowning victim waited four months for his DNA results to be released by police.
The family was finally able to lay him to rest yesterday after paying the mortuary a fee of $5790 for the three and a half months his body was kept there.
Of the 30 bodies at the mortuary, Mr Rohit said, three awaiting the DNA process were of adults while the third was a foetus.
He said bodies kept for more than eight days incur a fee of $67.50 per day.
DNA tests, he said, would only be required for bodies that were partly or fully decomposed.
He spoke of a case from 2023.
“The body is still here, in the morgue, and we are still awaiting the DNA test results.”
The total morgue cost for the body kept there since 2023 would come to $20,000.
Some families, he said, opted to foot the full cost of releasing their loved ones’ remains to avoid any more delay.
“If there’re unclaimed bodies and the police drop them off here, we are under obligation to retain those bodies until everything has been investigated.”
Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said information received from West Police Commander SSP Iakobo Vaisewa confirmed two of the bodies kept at the mortuary were foetuses.
The third, she said, was of a man who was found dead in Lautoka, and attempts had been made to locate his family for “necessary forensic tests”.
What is a concern here is the fact that bodies are being kept in the mortuary for quite some time. Now that’s sad when you consider the fact that there are also people who died, and have not been attended to by loved ones.
Surely, they had families. Surely, they had people who loved and appreciated them at some point in their lives.
Sadly, they remain at the mortuary, their bodies stuck there because, aside from the fact no one has come forward for some closure, or if they have come forward, there is the bit about DNA results to consider.
So in the silence of the mortuary at Lautoka, these bodies lie unseen, unheard, and unmourned!
Unless someone comes forward to claim them, they leave behind a chilling truth about how some of us live!
They serve as stark reminders of the fragility of life and of the gaps in our social fabric.
There will be questions asked of them. There will be questions asked about their circumstances. How does one end up like this? What happened?
They were born and grew up somewhere. So how did they end up this way?
It is a sad reminder about how some of us will live through life, going through the motions and ending up not being noticed, and remembered.
It’s like a tale that has no real good ending.
Some of us will need to look deep within, to find that bit about care, concern, and love! We’ve said this before! It is sad when people are left to die in unclaimed anonymity!
