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News24 reports that desperate families have turned to courts to secure autopsies for their loved ones so their bodies can be released for burial, amid a “go slow” strike by Gauteng forensic services assistants.
“I know of three court orders brought by Muslim families who are religiously required to bury within 24 hours of death,” the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Jack Bloom said on Sunday. Families had hoped the backlog of over 200 bodies would have been speedily cut when military health staff was brought in, but only seven members were available. Bloom added: “Pathologists have heroically worked without assistants over this long weekend, but new bodies are coming in all the time and they cannot cope.” National Health Education & Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) spokesperson Khaya Xaba on Thursday denied that the union was undertaking strike action: "We are not on a strike, we are not on a go-slow, we are simply only doing what is written in our contracts." He said the union members wouldn’t assist in conducting autopsies until a pay raise was given and learnerships offered for members to become registered pathologists. "The department of health has been using staff such as cleaners to cut bodies and perform autopsies. You cannot be remunerated for doing something you are not trained to do," a Health & Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa) spokesperson claimed.
- Read this report by Jenna Etheridge in full at News24
- Read too, Court orders autopsies as Gauteng mortuary strike continues, at IOL News
- And also, Gauteng mortuary strike talks deadlocked, at SABC News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page