Construction of a new Mortuary Building at University Hospital Waterford is due to commence before the year is out.
An intense letter issued by four consultant pathologists to the chief executive of the hospital group last October was published in a local Waterford newspaper this week.
The damning letter revealed unsettling information such as bodily fluids leaking onto the floor and bodies decomposing in corridors due to inadequate body storage and refrigeration facilities, causing “almost unspeakable trauma” to the families of those who’ve died.
The pathologists said the facilities were "a gross affront to the dignity of the deceased".
The quartet of consultants highlighted the lack of sufficient refrigeration and warned the mortuary poses an environmental health hazard, because of the danger of infection spreading and the circulation of unfiltered air.
They also said cramped facilities expose the public to the noise and odours of a working post-mortem room when visiting the public areas for identification/viewing purposes and funerals.
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