Family refuses to bury baby after morgue incident

A Mahusekwa family has refused to bury a new born baby which died at Marondera Provincial Hospital without DNA tests being conducted after an alleged mortuary mix up which saw them failing to collect the body on the first day.

The family is suspecting foul play after the body could not be located on the first day, only to be found the next morning without a tag. The family insists they will only collect the body after DNA tests.

In an interview, family spokesperson Mr Nelson Saidi said they were waiting for DNA results which were conducted yesterday before deciding to bury the baby. 

"We were shocked when the health officials told us that they could not locate our baby," he said.

"When the body of our baby was taken to the mortuary it had a tag. We want to know who removed the tag and how the baby was found at a place we had all looked for and failed to locate it, and who removed the tag.

"We had made agreements with health officials that our child was going to be buried, not incinerated. After we processed the death certificate, we were told our baby was nowhere to be found, only to be found the following day.  

"So, we refused to bury the baby before DNA results and we are told that the results will be ready after seven days. The baby, which was claimed to be ours, shows signs of having stayed in the mortuary for days, but our baby has only a day in the mortuary and we are not collecting the baby for burial until we are given satisfactory results."

Marondera Provincial Hospital superintendent Dr Celestino Dege confirmed the incident, saying they were waiting for DNA results to establish what could have transpired.  

"We are aware of the incident and as of now we are waiting for the DNA results to ascertain what happened at the mortuary," he said.