LOAD SHEDDING has taken its toll on the living and now it’s affecting the dead!
Bereaved families may be faced with the terrible reality of accepting the body of a loved one in a decomposing state.
BODIES ARE ALLEGEDLY RELEASING FLUIDS AND ARE SMELLY!
This is according to the Funeral Industry Reformed Association, which said it received complaints from funeral parlours and mourners about the terrible state of bodies in mortuaries as a result of constant power cuts.
“Bodies are releasing fluids because of power outages. This may also lead to refrigerators being damaged and bodies decomposing,” said association chairman Johan Rousseau.
“We’ve received complaints about the state of bodies in mortuaries. Bodies are releasing fluids because of power outages.”
Rousseau said four hours without electricity cannot only lead to bodies releasing fluids, but corpses may get blisters as well.
“Generators are expensive for small businesses,” said Rousseau.
“How will funeral parlours answer to families?
“This is not their fault. This is because of Eskom.
“This has caused emotional distress to grieving families.”
Rousseau said during load shedding the body gets bloated and doesn’t recover by itself.
It requires a medical intervention to return it to its original state.
A family in Roodekop in Ekurhuleni said they had decided to bury today.
“Our aunt died last week Thursday and we had planned to bury her on Saturday. But over the weekend when we went to prepare her body we found her smelly and swollen with blisters on her face,” said a family spokesman.
“The undertaker said they didn’t have generators.”
He said they were very unhappy about her condition.
“But we just want to focus on the burial to give her a good sendoff.”
A funeral parlour owner in Ekurhuleni said they were required to have generators, and thatthey had been in business for only two years.
“We have limited funds. It has been a very stressful week.
“Two families are unhappy with the bodies of their family members and we can’t afford a generator.”
Rousseau said they were considering taking legal action against Eskom.
“We’re waiting for feedback from one of the parlours. After that we’ll take immediate action,” he said.
Another undertaker from Soweto said: “It has been a tough week. I have three families to render a funeral service to over the weekend.
“The bodies were starting to smell after hours without electricity. I asked another undertaker to help store the bodies because they have a generator.”
At the time of going to print, Eskom had not responded to allegations of damages.
However, yesterday Eskom implemented stage 2.
“We’ve made good progress in the system recovery largely as a result of several units being returned to service and the recovery from localised flooding at our power stations,” said Eskom. It said the propability for load shedding remained high for the rest of the week.
- Meanwhile, Jack Bloom, the DA’s shadow health MEC in Gauteng, said a generator was used to supply power to certain operating theatres at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital since yesterday morning.
He said it was unclear what led to the failure. “Eskom’s load shedding has led to enormous problems for hospitals, which generally only use generators for emergency operations.”
