KwaDukuza crematoriums and morgues struggle with Covid-19 backlog

The declaration of iLembe District municipal region by President Ramaphosa on December 28 as a Covid-19 hotspot was because of a rapid rise in cases and the lack of available hospital beds and other resources.

There have been 175 Covid-19 fatalities in iLembe District up to Monday this week, having risen sharply in the last few weeks despite the tighter lockdown regulations implemented over the festive season with the sale of alcohol banned, beach closures and a new curfew set between 9pm and 6am.

As hospital admissions continue to rise in the district and the death toll climbs, the KwaDukuza crematorium is backlogged with families facing a wait of several weeks before cremations can take place.

A local crematorium operator who did not wish to be named said they were working until 9pm, 7 days a week, and barely keeping up with demand.

Hindu priest Guru Indran Naidoo of KwaDukuza, who has been conducting funerals for 18 years, told the Courier that because of the strict guidelines for the disposal of bodies, bereaved families had to cope with the extra trauma of not being able to give them a ‘proper goodbye’.

Rituals to honour the dead have been cut short or abandoned.

“I have never seen anything like this, to have this level of tragedy in such a short period of time.

“The numbers have increased substantially in the past 2 weeks.

“There are 5 cases coming to the crematorium today (Monday) which has been booked till 6pm.

“It’s carnage.”

Pressure is also mounting on local undertakers.

Vinodh Ramsaran of Rambros Funeral Services in KwaDukuza said there had been a 70% rise in the coronavirus death rate compared to the first wave of last year and that many funeral parlours were struggling to obtain protective gear.

Covid-19 regulations require funeral parlours to place bodies in triple body bags and shrink wrap the coffin, increasing the time needed to process each body.

“On average Stanger Hospital mortuary handles about 25 to 30 bodies a week but this number has risen sharply in recent weeks,” said Ramsaran.

The municipality only has one operational cemetery, the newly established Vlakspruit Cemetery is near Nkobongo.

KwaDukuza spokesperson Sipho Mkhize said the cemetery had capacity for 17 000 grave sites of which 3 000 were available.

“The remainder still has sold sugar cane plantation that will need to be removed prior to burial,” said Mkhize.

Last April the SA Cemeteries Association (Saca) urged municipalities to plan for the worst.

“It is estimated that there are less than 100 crematoriums in the country, which will be insufficient for the anticipated demand.

“Many of these facilities are overburdened and in frequent need of repair.

While South Africans mainly choose to bury their loved ones, it is a practice which is already proving a challenge to authorities,” said Saca.

On Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala said the province had breached the 5 000 mark for daily Covid-19 infections.

“Three days ago, when we were reporting the stats for 30 December, our province had recorded 5 846 new infections and 116 deaths.

“It was the first time that we had gone beyond the 5 000 mark – let alone approaching 6 000,” he said.

Zikalala said on New Year’s Day there were 5 311 new infections with 134 deaths reported for KZN.

As of January 2, the province had 4 340 patients admitted in both private (2474) and public (1866) hospitals.

Of those admitted, 472 patients required intensive care.

Private hospitals had 408 patients in ICU while public facilities currently had 64 ICU patients.

Among those who required intensive care, 112 patients were on ventilators in private hospitals while 28 patients were ventilated in public facilities.

The six districts declared hotspots are iLembe, eThekwini, Umgungundlovu, Ugu, Harry Gwala and King Cetshwayo.