THE Lautoka Hospital mortuary is holding an unidentified middle aged iTaukei man nicknamed Mister X whose body has remained unclaimed for four months.
Due to his remains being in an advanced stage of decomposition when authorities recovered him, forensic identification has been close to impossible.
Tagimoucia Funeral Services director Shalvin Rohit Krishna said DNA tests on the deceased have failed to provide a positive identification.
“Currently the DNA tests have been done on him but there have been no results,” said Mr Krishna.
“For these cases, the first thing done is DNA tests are taken and matched with missing persons reports.
“So far for Mr X, there has been no positive results.”
Mr Krishna said other bodies that have remained unclaimed at the morgue included foetuses.
“We also have two foetuses, and two baby heads that were found in Field 4 in Naikabula.
“For these types of cases they are handled by police, and they are kept at the mortuary under their supervision.”
Mr Krishna said they have been working closely with authorities to carry out burials of unclaimed bodies.
His staff with a police escort cremated a 21-year-old man who had been at the morgue since October, 2024.
“It is quite difficult to do these sorts of things ourselves because there is a lot of legal processes to follow.
“If it was up to us, I would bury these unclaimed bodies if they have been here for too long.”
Minister for Social Protection Sashi Kiran said they were saddened by the reports of the unclaimed bodies.
“We are very sad to know that there are foetuses which means they have been babies dumped after delivery, but we do need to understand a little bit more about that such as finding out what happened to the mothers,” she said.
“So we will pursue that.
“I want to say that we are very sad to note that a country that calls itself a very communal and spiritual country is not able to take charge in this matter.
“Every person has a family, a village or a community and I plead with the community and the country that if somebody passes on and even though they have their differences it is important that they at least get a peaceful rest and it has to be done by families and communities.
“And if they are struggling to do it, they can reach out to us for help, but it is sad to hear that there are many unclaimed lives that have contributed in their own way to the nation.”
