IN response to the Kaieteur News article headlined, “GPHC misplaces dead babies in overcrowded morgue,” the hospital has stated that the man, Roger Smith, who claimed that he did not find the body of his eight-day-old son, did in fact locate the body.According to a release from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), “the article alleged that the bodies of a number of dead babies in the morgue are untagged, however, the hospital would like to emphasise that this is completely untrue since bodies are “always tagged” so deceased persons can be easily identified.”
The hospital said that currently there are a number of dead babies’ bodies at the morgue, as families sometimes refuse to collect the bodies. In these instances, the hospital cannot bury the bodies until a certain amount of time has elapsed and it is determined that the families will not take on burial responsibilities.
This is the procedure since burying someone whose family turns up to uplift their body subsequently can put the hospital in serious hot water. Thus far for the year, the hospital has done 17 burials.
According to the release, the GPHC sees the article as a deliberately misleading one since no one from the newspaper contacted the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital or the Public Relations Coordinator.