Johannesburg – The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) has rejected “misleading reports” that said Helen Joseph Hospital mortuary has corpses “left in limbo” due to a shortage of printing cartridges.
Earlier on Sunday, 29 June 2025, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said it was “horrified to learn that people who have died over the past 13 days at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg cannot be transferred to government mortuaries because the hospital has no printer cartridges to print the necessary documents”.
The DA demanded that the Gauteng MEC for Health, Nomanto Nkomo-Ralehoko, ensure that this hospital is stocked with adequate cartridges and resources so as not to interrupt and inconvenience any burials, adding unnecessary pain, frustration, and trauma to the families of the deceased.
Madeleine Hicklin, MPL and DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Health, said: “As a result of this administrative incompetency, since 17 June 2025, families have not been able to claim their loved ones for burial, as postmortems cannot be undertaken and death certificates cannot be issued”.
However, responding to the DA claims, the GDoH said: “Contrary to the sensationalised report, the facility’s mortuary currently has only one body of a patient who was declared dead on arrival on Wednesday, 25 June, which was initially unknown”.
The GDoH said the family of the deceased was eventually traced in KwaZulu-Natal, and they were notified accordingly.
“This means that the body will now be handed over to the forensic team on Monday, 30 June, for processing to enable the family to collect.”
While the GDoH admitted that “the facility experienced challenges related to printing services which impacted on the turnaround time to process cases at the hospital mortuary between 17 and 23 June 2025,” it said, “the facility management was able to activate contingency measures which resulted in five families, whose cases were pending, being assisted on Tuesday, 24 June 2025”.
The GDoH revealed that the issue of printing services was due to the delayed processing of payments to two service providers.
“This matter is receiving attention and is being addressed by the finance team,” the GDoH said.
The Department said it would like to “reiterate that Helen Joseph Hospital has no corpses that are outstanding and awaiting to be processed as a result of printing challenges.”
