Corpses are piling up at town hospitals in Zimbabwe because families do not have the fuel available to collect the bodies for burial, a newspaper reported on Friday.
The privately-run Daily Mirror said scores of bodies had not been collected from provincial hospitals in Bindura, Marondera and Masvingo, among others.
At least 51 corpses are lying in the mortuary at Masvingo Provincial hospital in southern Zimbabwe, despite the fact it is only supposed to hold a maximum of 17 bodies, the paper said.
”The situation has worsened recently due to the fuel crisis. Deceased’s’ relatives are finding it difficult to collect bodies because many vehicles are grounded due to fuel shortages,” the hospital’s administrator Vitalis Shonhai said.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of its worst fuel crisis to date. Almost all fuel stations have run dry, and only motorists with access to foreign currency are allowed to purchase fuel coupons at five stations still serving the precious commodity.
In rural areas, long lines of dusty cars sit outside fuel stations for days, waiting for a possible fuel delivery.
President Robert Mugabe’s government blames the shortage — and similar shortages of electrical power — on a lack of foreign currency.
Shonhai said part of the blame also lay in the slow pace with which the authorities are carrying out paupers’ burials.
Zimbabwe’s hospitals are being stretched to the limit by HIV/Aids, which kills at least 2 000 people a week. – Sapa-DPA