Papua New Guinea carries out mass burial to ease morgue overcrowding

Papua New Guinea carried out a mass burial Wednesday of 92 unclaimed bodies from its main hospital after a viral video of decaying corpses highlighted pressures on the Pacific country’s fragile health system.

There were no relatives to bid the dead farewell at 9 Mile Cemetery in the country’s capital Port Moresby. City Hall cemetery workers clad in white protective clothing stacked the thin-wood coffins in burial pits as reporters looked on.

“The mortuary cannot take on the load of a growing population. It’s an everyday thing, only that now it has gone viral on social media. The morgue is extremely crowded,” Port Moresby General Hospital’s chief executive officer Paki Molumi said in a statement.

Papua New Guinea, the most populous Pacific island country with more than nine million people, has a limited health system despite strong economic growth over the past decade.

One in 13 children die each year from mostly preventable diseases and the risk of mothers dying during childbirth is eight times higher than the average for East Asia and the Pacific, according to UNICEF.

A video posted on Facebook over the Christmas and New Year holiday period showed bodies decaying in Port Moresby General Hospital’s layout room – a facility where family members can view a deceased relative before the body is transferred to the morgue.

Molumi said 20 bodies had been left in the layout room for several days until preparations for the mass burial had freed up space in the morgue.

Port Moresby also carried out a mass burial in July last year and another is planned for February. The burials Wednesday included 52 adults and 40 children and infants whose bodies had been unclaimed for at least six months.

The latest mass burial comes ahead of an official visit to Papua New Guinea next week by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Australia is the country’s largest aid donor.

Molumi said the government, with the help of international donors, has allocated funds “to address the long standing mortuary issue which I will announce when confirmed.”

Last month, soldiers damaged equipment at Port Moresby General Hospital and threatened staff after the overcrowded emergency department didn’t immediately attend to a drunk soldier who had injuries from a car accident.