Tema General Hospital Morgue in Ruins

The new Tema General Hospital morgue has been abandoned and the staff of the Pathology Department, relocated to share space with undertakers in the old morgue originally meant for dressing of corpse and body viewing by the public.

The doors of the new mortuary are locked and there is no activity at the new morgue. This is because the building is in ruins; the ceiling is ripped off, paints peeling off, electrical fittings are deteriorating and some of the sliding windows stolen.

The morgue has no sewage system and laboratory, making it impossible to use, a source familiar with the Tema General Hospital told this reporter.

According to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity "the building is substandard and was not technically completed before it was handed over to the hospital administration by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly."

The source added that the morgue did not have adequate protective walls which allowed miscreants to scale the wall and terrorise the staff, though a police post is only metres away.

The Ghanaian Times investigations revealed that work on the morgue started on April 30, 2012 by two contractors and was completed and 'hurriedly" handed over in 2014.

"All relevant documents on the project are still with the TMA, because the work has not been completed. They just handed it over to the TGH," the sources said.

When contacted the Public Relations Officer of the TMA, Frank Asante only promised to get in touch with the Estate Department for information.

Sources said though the hospital has a certified pathologist, he was able to perform post mortem only on Tuesdays and Thursdays leading to huge workload at the Pathology Department.

At a town hall meeting organised by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) in November, the issue of the abandoned morgue was raised by the Member of Parliament for the Tema Constituency, Mr Kofi Brako, who called for urgent measures to put it to use.

The building of a new morgue became necessary after the Ghanaian Times in July 2011 published a story about mice eating dead bodies at the old morgue.

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