Six unclaimed bodies at GPHC mortuary

Feb 23, 2025 News

Kaieteur News- The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) said there are six unclaimed bodies at its mortuary, while issuing a call for relatives of the deceased to make urgent contact.

In a public notice published in the Saturday edition of the Stabroek News, the hospital said that among the deceased is a 13-year-old.

The public notice issued by GPHC in Stabroek News Saturday edition

The 13-year-old was identified as Roweila Torres, who resided in the vicinity of the Pomeroon River, Region Two. Her Date of Death (DOD) was given as January 23, 2025. A contact listed for her next of kin is, “721-3491.”

Another unclaimed body is that of 28-year-old Marialys Gonzalves. Gonzalves died on December 3, 2024, and she lived in Montrose, East Coast Demerara (ECD). Her next of kin is her sister-in-law, Victoria Lacruz, whose contact was listed as 721-0095.

Additionally, 57-year-old Dharam Singh died on January 27, 2024. GPHC stated that no next of kin information was been provided. Another, unclaimed body identified only as Ramdat is at the mortuary. Ramdat died on January 1, 2025. No other relevant information has been provided for the deceased.

Further, 58-year-old Vasco Hopkinson, who resided at Lot 489 East Ruimveldt, Georgetown is yet to be claimed. The deceased died on January 31, 2025. No other relevant information was provided on him.

The body of an unknown Venezuelan female is also at the hospital.

In November, 2024, Kaieteur News reported that Dr. Navindranauth Rambaran, Director of Medical and Professional Services at GPHC, confirmed the hospital has a system and policy in place to deal with unclaimed bodies.

This system mandates the employment of a series of procedures if a deceased body remains unclaimed for one week.

It was explained that once this timeframe has passed, the records department is notified, and they, in turn would reach out to the Public Relations (PR) Department. The PR department then publishes the necessary information to help individuals recognise if the deceased is their relative.

“…after a reasonable period usually up to two weeks, we will consider the body unclaimed and move towards a consideration… (of) burial (Burial by state / GPHC),” Dr. Rambaran told Kaieteur News.

The director stated that there are always challenges in establishing contact with the families of deceased individuals. He explained that the hospital’s Social Work Department makes every effort to track down the families based on the information available, although there are instances where the details are limited, particularly when patients arrive unconscious or with trauma-related injuries.

In such cases, the hospital does its best to publish whatever information is available, including photographs of the patients, to aid in identification. However, for a variety of reasons, including communication barriers and the unavailability of relatives, there are often difficulties in reaching out to the families.

(Six unclaimed bodies at GPHC mortuary)

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