Cipto complains of less space for the dead

JAKARTA (JP): The corpses of the four people killed in last month's bomb blast that leveled the Iskandar Muda Acehnese dormitory here are still being kept in the morgue of the Cipto Mangunkusumo Public Hospital.

They are still being stored at the morgue, pending city police' approval to allow their burial, head of the morgue Mardiono told The Jakarta Post early this week.

"So far none of the family members of the deceased have come forward to claim the bodies," he said.

The Acehnese student dorm in Guntur, South Jakarta, was destroyed in a bomb blast on May 10, an incident which remains a mystery as police have yet to solve the case.

Mardiono said that the storage room only has refrigerated boxes for a capacity of 20 corpses while the number of corpses that must be stored often far exceeded that.

Another problem faced by the morgue is its poor facilities.

"I have been dreaming of having an elevator so that my staff need not push the corpse trolley up and down from the second floor where the corpses are stored," he said.

He added that the 15 ambulances which the morgue used to deliver corpses were also antiquated.

The morgue receives only Rp 15 million per month from the hospital, which is far from adequate.

"We used to receive financial assistance from the city administration, but it was halted seven years ago," he said.

Mardiono said he was not optimistic that the government would provide more aid since the country was still facing financial problems.

"Therefore, I appeal to businessmen or philanthropists to provide funds so that the morgue can have an elevator and more refrigerated storage boxes," he said.

He said that the family of the dead were asked to pay Rp 130,000 for the mortuary services to bathe and wrap a corpse and between Rp 40,000 and Rp 100,000 for the ambulance service. However the money is handed over to the hospital (not the morgue).

Corpses which are not claimed by any family member become the morgue's responsibility until they are taken by the city public cemetery service for a mass burial.

Preparations for burial for an adult corpse costs up to Rp 200,000, which include the shroud, soap, mat, plastic bag, and other funeral items like rose water fragrance and cendana (sandalwood). The morgue takes care of between 30 to 50 corpses monthly which are not claimed by the family of the deceased.

According to Bambang, a forensic assistant, last year the morgue received 2,326 corpses. Since January this year it has received 1,101 corpses.

The University of Indonesia's forensic unit has seven classifications on the causes of death: traffic accidents, which tops the list, followed by murder, sudden death, general accident, poisoning, suicide and other causes.

The morgue has 31 members of staff who work in four shifts around the clock.(01)