NL Health Services says the new morgue at the Health Sciences Centre will be ready come October, but the leader of the provincial NDP isn’t impressed with how the interim solution of freezer units has developed in the meantime.
Last March it was revealed that due to an overflow of unclaimed bodies at the hospital, the health authority began using freezer units.
The units were placed outside, in plain view, near a dumpster—which drew the ire of many.
Those storage units have now been moved inside, to the hospital’s underground parking area.
Jim Dinn says the problem has been building for years, and he is “appalled” by what he views as government inaction in addressing the issue.
He wants to see government address the issue by tying financial assistance to inflation, simplifying the process and reviewing protocols.
Chief Operating Officer for the Eastern Urban Zone, Ron Johnson, says a permanent solution will be in place this fall.
A new morgue will be built on the same site that the freezer units were once placed on, and it should be ready by October.
Johnson says the new facility will double their current capacity.