VEREENIGING. – A delegation of the Vaal Funeral Undertaker’s Forum on Monday told Sedibeng Ster that they were shocked to hear about a storage fee that had to be paid by family members at the Kopanong Hospital Mortuary upon the collection of the bodies of deceased family members.

The amount of R184.00 per day a deceased is at the mortuary must either be paid before taking the body or an account be opened for family members who are not able to pay the money when fetching their loved ones.
“On sunday we held a meeting at the Zone 14 Sports Complex where members of the community raised their concerns regarding this new law that was put in place without a consultation process,” Says Moedi Sello.

Sello stated that this was going to be stressful for poor families who also have to deal with funeral costs. “Burial is very expensive and the government can not make people pay for storage because they simply will not be able to afford it. If family members leave their loved ones at the government mortuary for two weeks or more, they will have to pay thousands.”

Peter Tladi who is also a funeral undertaker said that he found out last week when he was asked by one of his clients to go and collect a body. Upon arrival, the family was told that they have to pay for storage, which came as a shock. Tladi added that many families who used Kopanong Hospital were people that can not afford to pay that kind of money to the hospital.

“In a meeting that was held today, the hospital management said that it would be suspending the payment until further notice. They also said this was implemented by the Department of Health.We do not agree with it at all, it should not be implemented because people will just not be able to afford the payment.”

A media inquiry was sent to Patricia Mokoena from the Department of health and no comment was received at the time of going to print.