JEDDAH: Denying recent rumors that cadavers in some morgues in Jeddah were decomposing, a local Health Department official said morgues in the ministry’s hospitals in Jeddah were functioning smoothly and the bodies in them were preserved in excellent condition.
“It is just a routine procedure at the beginning of summer to transfer some bodies from morgues that receive large numbers of bodies to others that normally receive less number of bodies than their capacity,” said Dr. Sami Badawood, director of the department in Jeddah. He said there are about 400 unclaimed bodies in the city’s morgues. The department has a policy of burying bodies that have gone unclaimed for two months.
“We send monthly reports to the governor’s office mentioning the number of bodies kept in the morgues, including the duration of their presence,” the official said.
Police and Traffic departments cooperate in efforts to preserve and bury unclaimed bodies. He referred to the Health Department’s plan to open a new morgue exclusively for emergency cases in Al-Khumra area of south Jeddah.
