Kalubowila Hospital decides not to accept bodies until existing ones are cleared: Administration

• The storing of 28 unidentified corpses on which post-mortems have not been done for a year has worsened the situation

 By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama

The hospital administration at the Kalubowila (Colombo South) Teaching Hospital has decided not to accept any more bodies that are unidentified and without owners that are brought to the hospital.

Hospital Director Dr. Sagari Kiriwandeniya said a notice has been issued to the relevant police stations of the area to remove the bodies from the hospital morgue that have been brought to the hospital for various reasons.

She said the decision was taken due to the mortuary exceeding its capacity. “The number of bodies that can be stored in the hospital morgue is 36. But we have received bodies that exceed this maximum capacity.

“The storing of 28 unidentified corpses on which post-mortems have not been done for a year has worsened the situation. Also, not conducting follow-up action on bodies and not conducting post-mortems on bodies currently deposited in the hospital by police stations such as Piliyandala, Mirihana, Dehiwala and Mt. Lavinia have worsened the situation. Even though notices had been issued, certain police stations have not shown any concern.”

“Bodies identified by court orders or for other reasons are brought to hospitals daily. Until the existing bodies are removed, the bodies brought to the hospital have to be kept on the hospital beds,” another official from the hospital said.