Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka has given Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital three months to exhume and rebury a man the hospital buried as a pauper without following proper procedures. The man,Nhlakanipho Goqo,was admitted at the hospital on the 14 of November 2019 and died on the 23rd. He was then given a pauper's burial on February 4, 2020.At the time of his burial Goqo's family was looking for him to no avail.

BARA FAILED FAMILY 

The Public Protector's report revealed that Bara hospital staff failed to inform the family of  Goqo's death and buried him as a pauper instead. It was also found that the hospital CEO Dr Nkele Lesia authorised Goqo's burial without verifying if all the correct procedures had been followed.At the time of Goqo's death, the hospital didn't make an effort to seek the help of newspapers to publish his death in an attempt to trace the family and alert them of their loss before burying him as a pauper. "The conduct of Baragwanath Hospital constitutes maladministration relating to the failure to publicise the notice of death as required. The appropriate remedial action is taken within 90 calendar days after the issuing of this report  to facilitate the exhumation and reburial of the body in consultation with the family ,and also obtain authorisation from the local government in whose jurisdiction the exhumation and reburial will be conducted in accordance with the regulation of the National Health Act," Gcaleka ruled.

FAMILY LOOKING FOR HIM 

When Goqo was given a pauper's burial in February 2020 by Homewardbound funeral home, his family was reportedly looking for him. Goqo was in the hospital's mortuary for more than 30 days before his burial and the claim is that there was no residential address to be able to reach the family. Avbob,South Africa's biggest funeral parlour In the case of unidentified bodies a pauper's funeral should be done and paid for by the state after all attempts to reach the next of kin are exhausted not before. The pauper's option is also for the families who cannot afford a burial, they have to make  an application to their  municipality for an indigent person. Avbob says the average cost of a pauper's funeral is R2 200, with the most affordable interment charged at R6 595.

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