La Digue to get own mortuary |08 August 2016

Health Minister Mitcy Larue will officially open a new mortuary at the Logan Hospital on La Digue this coming Friday.

The R1.8m project has been funded by the Seychelles government and the Ministry of Health with the active support of the La Digue Trust Fund.

The cost covers the building and civil engineering works inclusive of the mortuary equipment flown in from the Matachana Company, a Spanish manufacturer specialising in clinical and medical equipment for mortuaries.

Preliminary construction works on this project started in January 2015 with the demolition of the old nurses’ house to make way for the new mortuary project.

The project memorandum was drafted by the Projects Unit of the Ministry of Health and the technical and engineering drawings were developed by the Ministry of Land Use and Habitat.

The new La Digue mortuary consists of a delivery and drop off area, the main entrance into the morgue and a changing area for mortuary attendants, a refrigerated chiller to store corpses until ready for either post-mortem and burial, a trolley parking area and storage facilities.

Also included in the new facilities at the new La Digue mortuary is a staff changing room and an autopsy room to perform post-mortems which is completely fitted-in with a table, scrub, sink, benches and other facilities required for post- mortems.

A reception area to handle the public and grieving families is also included together with an office-cum-records room and a staff pantry.

The total floor area of the new La Digue mortuary is 102sqm.

Some external works such as a security fencing around the building, landscaping work and the installation of back-up electricity generator by the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) have also been carried out.

A local contractor, N&J Construction based on La Digue, was awarded the contract for the construction works which began 18 months ago.