Those responsible for these mix-ups are thought to be foreign cleaners and morgue officials. As a result, many people are calling for stringent laws to punish those who exhibit negligence and a foolproof mechanism to oversee the handing over of bodies to families at morgues, Al-Yaum newspaper said in report recently.

Three dead bodies were accidentally swapped at hospital morgues in the Eastern Province within the last 12 months. In one notorious incident, the bodies of two women, one Saudi and the other Egyptian, were swapped at Buraidah Central Hospital in Al-Qassim province two years ago. There have also been two such incidents at Qatif Central Hospital involving the bodies of expatriates.

In a statement issued at the time of one incident, the Health Affairs Department in the Eastern Province said one of the dead man’s relative was to blame for the accidental swap. “Two unknown men died in a road accident in Jubail and the bodies were kept at the hospital in line with a letter from the Jubail Traffic Department. Later, one of the men’s relatives came to the hospital and identified the wrong body,” it said.

In another incident at Jubail General Hospital, the brother of a young Saudi who died in a road accident on the Dammam-Abu Hadriya road identified the wrong body. Three people had died in that particular accident and were at the morgue.

Many people blame these mix-ups on the large numbers of foreigners who work at Saudi hospitals and call for the appointment of Saudis to supervise morgues and be involved in the actual handing over of bodies.

“Those who have committed mistakes in this regard should be dealt with sternly. There should be a complete overhaul of the current system for keeping dead bodies at morgues and handing them over to their relatives,” said one citizen who did not want to be named.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health blamed hospitals for forcing their cleaners to work in morgues.

“The hospitals use these workers to bring bodies into morgues and hand them over to relatives. These men do not know proper Arabic and are not in a position to read names on the tags attached to bodies. It is this that could subsequently lead to bodies getting swapped,” said Dr. Saeed Al-Ghamdi, director of forensic medicine at the Ministry of Health.

He also noted the carefree attitude of some employers when receiving the bodies of their workers. “Some sponsors are not keen to verify and confirm that the bodies they are taking are really those of their workers and not someone else's,” he added.

Al-Ghamdi emphasized that employing foreigners to supervise morgues is a clear violation of Ministry of Health regulations. “There are clear instructions from the ministry to appoint only Saudi technicians to deal with morgue matters. But some hospitals ignore this and exploit cheap foreign labor to do this highly sensitive job. These foreigners are mainly cleaners and are not at all bothered if bodies were swapped,” he said.

He further denied reports that large numbers of bodies at mortuaries were the main reason why bodies get swapped. “It is essential that hospitals abide by the ministry’s regulations and follow its strict mechanism to avoid bodies getting swapped,” he said.

“If these rules are followed, then it would be impossible for bodies to get swapped, even though there may be over 100 bodies at any morgue,” he added.

Commenting on the issue, a prominent legal expert said the exhumation of dead bodies is not legally allowed in case of an accidental swap.

“It is not permissible to exhume decomposing bodies several days after they are buried, especially in the case of the person whose funeral prayer has already been offered and was buried in a Muslim cemetery. In such cases, the concerned authorities should visit the relatives of the person whose body was accidentally swapped and console them,” said the official, who works at a court in the Eastern Province. He said respecting a deceased person is similar to respecting him when he is alive.