The rise in the number of deaths due to COVID-19-related illnesses in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) has resulted in some hospitals running out of body bags due to a surge in Covid-19 fatalities, forcing workers to wrap bodies in bedsheets, the Times of Swaziland has reported.
For the past two weeks, workers in Lubombo Referral Hospital and Good Shepherd Mission Hospital have been fearing for their health after their supply ran out.
Some body bags were procured on Monday following complaints from staff.
“They were procured after the complaints from the orderlies and nurses as some of the staff members felt that they were at risk of being exposed to the virus because they had to make sure that the bodies were wrapped in a satisfactory manner that would not expose any body parts. We just hope the bags will be enough to last us for a while,” a source, who sought anonymity was quoted as saying.
“It is a bad experience as the orderlies and the nursing staff are subjected to this situation. They had no choice after being told by management that there were shortages of body bags and had to use sheets fabric to wrap the bodies of those who had died before making sure that they improvise using the available plastic bags. The whole of last week has been a bad experience to the workers and this has also been the situation at Good Shepherd,” the source said.
The country’s Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi says she is unaware of the shortage.
Eswatini has so far confirmed 15,804 cases of the virus including 574 deaths.
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