Mortuary Staff Union in Ghana has advised members of the public to wait until their strike is over on November 20, 2018, before dying.
Richard Kofi Jordan, the general secretary of the union gave the advice while indicating that the union’s planned strike action would go on as planned unless the government listens to their concerns, Ghanaweb reports on Thursday, November 15, 2018.
He said, “Those who intend to die during that period should wait. When mortuary men are back to work they die; simple.
Mortuary workers in Ghana’s public health facilities are protesting their poor working conditions and are therefore demanding improved terms of service.
According to the aggrieved morticians, they are exposed to several diseases given their close contact with corpses and chemicals used in preserving them but each time they raise concerns, the government turns a deaf ear.
“The chemicals we use give us five different kinds of cancers, the government is aware of this situation.
“We are also at risk of blindness but nobody is addressing our challenges,’’ he added.
Asked what will ensure they back down on their strike action, he stated “anything short of solutions will not affect our strike… We are laying down our tools”
Speaking on their sufferings that go unnoticed by authorities of the various public health facilities, Jordan revealed “ When you die and you die at the hospital, the mortuary man becomes the porter, he goes to bring the body from the ward to the mortuary.
He is the same person who will do the cleaning of the mess that is caused by the dead people in the mortuary. The same person is in charge of embalming the body, preserving the body through the infusion of chemicals to save the body from temporary decay.
