Forensic staff forced to collect bodies without protective gear

Forensic pathology staff working for the Limpopo department of health say they are forced to collect bodies in their private clothes while attending crime and accident scenes as they do not have personal protective equipment (PPE).

Eighty forensic pathology service (FPS) workers in different districts in the province have allegedly been without protective gear for the past six years.

Some of the workers Sowetan spoke to said they were at risk of taking dangerous illnesses from crime or accident scenes back to their families and have accused the department of negligence, saying it aignored their calls for personal protective equipment.

However, the department said they appointed a contractor in December last year who failed to deliver.

“Unfortunately, after months of ordering and making follow-ups, the contractor failed to deliver, and we decided to terminate the contract," said Limpopo department of health spokesperson Neil Shikwambana.

Speaking to Sowetan, Ramabu Moribola, an employee in the Letaba District, said they have raised the issue with the department on several occasions.

“We are supposed to have protective gear to keep us safe in the environments we work in. Half the time we go into crime scenes where there is blood everywhere, and there are so many illnesses out there that you are at risk of contracting. There are many things now, especially with Mpox,” said Moribola.

Moribola said the pathology services had hired more officers but failed to give them the PPE.

“We have the tattered protective gear we got years back when we started working, but these new officers don’t have anything. They go into scenes wearing their private clothes, and then they get reprimanded for that. But what are they supposed to wear?”

According to Moribola, sometimes when they are at the scene in their old, tattered clothes and journalists take pictures of them that end up in the media, the departmental bosses get angry and ask why they were at a crime or accidents scene without protective gear.

“What’s worse is that we could even buy the gear ourselves, but we don’t even get an allowance to do so,” said Moribola.

Sowetan also spoke to workers from various districts such as Kgapane, Lebowakgomo, Bela Bela, Groblersdal and Polokwane who said that uniforms are supposed to be updated every two years.

Another worker, stationed in Mokopane and who asked to remain anonymous, accused the department of not taking their plight seriously.

“I have been working in forensics for 15 years, and I can tell you that the department does not care about its workers and how they are treated. When we bring up problems, we are not taken seriously, especially with this issue of protective gear.

“We go into dangerous environments where one can encounter any illness. Instead of protective gear, I am wearing my own clothes, and I get blood on them. I can’t wash them at the laundromat at the hospital because it’s against policy, which means I take that clothing home. We are taking illnesses back to our families, and it’s really unfair to our families,” the worker said.

The department had previously informed them about a contract to get a supply of the uniforms.

“They came and took our measurements and told us that they would keep us updated on the progress. But months went by, and when we started asking questions, they said that the contract fell through and that there was not enough funding. That was the last we heard of uniforms, and yet the department of health gets a budget for such stuff,” said the worker.

However, Shikwambana said in the meantime the workers will have to use uniforms they received in the past. This is despite the workers having said they are now in tatters and not wearable.

“Considering that acquiring another service provider will take more time, we have decided to use the three-quotation method [inviting service providers to supply quotations] to acquire the PPE, and the process is at an advanced stage,” said Shikwambana.