{"id":56885,"date":"2022-04-03T18:34:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-03T16:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/hospital-staff-private-funeral-parlour-in-unholy-alliance"},"modified":"2022-04-03T21:01:27","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T19:01:27","slug":"hospital-staff-private-funeral-parlour-in-unholy-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/hospital-staff-private-funeral-parlour-in-unholy-alliance","title":{"rendered":"Hospital Staff, Private Funeral Parlour In \u2018Unholy Alliance\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Some employees at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare are reportedly touting the services of a private funeral parlour, Sojourner Funeral Parlour, to bereaved families.<\/p>\n

The staff members involved in the scam are reportedly being paid an average of US$50 whenever they hand over corpses to the private funeral parlour of people who would have died while admitted to the hospital.<\/p>\n

Bereaved families without funeral policies are allegedly told that the hospital\u2019s mortuary is not working and then forced to engage Sojourner\u2019ss services.<\/p>\n

In some cases, the bodies of people who die while in admission are handed over to the funeral parlour without the consent of the deceased person\u2019s relatives.<\/p>\n

The deceased\u2019s relatives would be told to negotiate the price for burial services with Sojourner.<\/p>\n

Tongai Nongerai, an employee of the Ministry of Health and Child Care at the mortuary wing, is reportedly attached to Sojourner Funeral Parlour.<\/p>\n

He divulged to The Manica Post that taking the body to their rented Doves mortuary would cost US$50.<\/p>\n

Nongerai also said the cheapest charge for all the funeral services was US$300.<\/p>\n

But Doves Funeral Services spokesperson, Innocent Tshuma, told the publication that his company had nothing to do with Sojourner Funeral Parlour. He said:<\/p>\n

We do not rent out our mortuaries to anyone. We are also aware of those funeral parlours that have their vehicles parked just outside hospitals as they wait for bodies.<\/p>\n

Sojourner Funeral Parlour owner, Tafadzwa Mukwati, admitted that Nongerai works for the company on a part-time basis. Said Mukwati:<\/p>\n

While Mr Nongerai is employed by Government through the Ministry of Health and Child Care, he also serves us on a part-time basis and there is nothing wrong with that.<\/p>\n

On 19 February, a bereaved family from Gwese Village, Mutare, discovered that the body of their deceased relative was not in the Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital mortuary when they came to collect it. Said a relative who spoke on condition of anonymity:<\/p>\n

We left the hospital to get some medication that was prescribed for our niece who was admitted to the hospital. Upon our return, we were informed that she had passed on.<\/p>\n

What disturbed us the most is that the body of the deceased was not in the hospital ward or the mortuary.<\/p>\n

Instead, it had already been placed in the Sojourner Funeral Parlour vehicle.<\/p>\n

We were not happy about it and we had a heated argument with the authorities over the issue.<\/p>\n

Mukwati described the incident as a minor misunderstanding and insisted that his company\u2019s operations are lawful.<\/p>\n

Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital Medical Superintendent, Dr Dorcas Masanga-Mutede did not respond to questions sent to her, The Manica Post reported.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, reports suggest that a committee has been established to investigate the issue after Manicaland Provincial Medical Director, Dr Simon Nyadundu intervened.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Some employees at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare are reportedly touting the services of a private funeral parlour, Sojourner Funeral Parlour, to bereaved families. The staff members involved in the scam are reportedly being paid an average of US$50 whenever they hand over corpses to the private funeral parlour of people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":56884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,35,15],"tags":[1493,2189,6811,9268,9269,9267,9270,7898,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-56885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"category-twitter","11":"tag-africa-press","12":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","13":"tag-doves","14":"tag-funeral-parlour","15":"tag-mortuary","16":"tag-sojourner-funeral-parlour","17":"tag-victoria-chitepo-hospital","18":"tag-victoria-chitepo-provincial-hospital","19":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nHospital Staff, Private Funeral Parlour In \u2018Unholy Alliance\u2019 - 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