GDoH Denies Allegations of ‘Body Pile-Up’ at Helen Joseph Hospital Mortuary Attributed to Printer Issues
Johannesburg – The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) has refuted “misleading reports” suggesting that the mortuary at Helen Joseph Hospital has bodies “left in limbo” due to an absence of printing cartridges.
On Sunday, 29 June 2025, the Democratic Alliance (DA) expressed shock upon discovering that individuals who passed away at the Helen Joseph Hospital over the past 13 days could not be transferred to government mortuaries because the hospital was out of printer cartridges required to produce essential documents.
The DA has urged Gauteng MEC for Health, Nomanto Nkomo-Ralehoko, to ensure the hospital is adequately supplied with cartridges and resources to avoid any disruptions in the burial process, which inflicts unnecessary pain, frustration, and trauma on the families of the deceased.
Madeleine Hicklin, MPL and DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Health, remarked: “Due to this administrative incompetence, families have been unable to claim their loved ones for burial since 17 June 2025, as postmortems cannot be conducted and death certificates cannot be issued.”
In response to the DA’s claims, the GDoH clarified: “Contrary to sensationalized reports, the mortuary currently holds only one body of a patient who was pronounced dead on arrival on Wednesday, 25 June, whose family was initially unidentified.”
The GDoH further detailed that the deceased’s family was eventually located in KwaZulu-Natal, and they have been informed accordingly.
“This means that the body will be handed over to the forensic team on Monday, 30 June, for processing, allowing the family to retrieve it,” the GDoH added.
While the GDoH acknowledged that “the facility experienced challenges related to printing services, which impacted the turnaround time for processing cases at the hospital mortuary between 17 and 23 June 2025,” it noted that “facility management implemented contingency measures that resulted in five families, whose cases were pending, receiving assistance on Tuesday, 24 June 2025.”
The GDoH revealed that the delays in printing services were attributed to processing lags in payments to two service providers.
“This issue is currently being addressed by the finance team,” the GDoH stated.
The Department emphasized that “Helen Joseph Hospital does not have any corpses awaiting processing due to printing difficulties.”