Victim’s family complains of rats in CCMC morgue
aggravated grief. Golddy Siton-Yuson (left) with husband Alfredo expresses dismay over the handling of the human remains of a family member taken to the CCMC morgue. (CDN PHOTO/JOSE SANTINO BUNCHITA)
The management of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) is investigating a family’s complaint that rats in the morgue had eaten the nose of a cadaver of a gunshot victim past midnight yesterday.
CCMC director for administration lawyer Rey Cris Panugaling said an investigation was started yesterday after they talked to the family of the dead victim.
“We are closely coordinating with the family. The issue here is the chain of operation, what happened along the way. We’re looking at all aspects,” he told reporters.
The involvement of six hospital staff is being looked into.
Yesterday dawn, relatives of 39-year-old Harold Siton who died of a gunshot wound Sunday night, were shocked to see his nose missing. They said they saw four large rats running out when they entered the hospital’s makeshift morgue past midnight.
There was only one other cadaver aside from Harold’s at that time.
They tried to ask hospital staff for an explanation but personnel pointed fingers at each other and didn’t give a satisfactory answer. The family went to the media to report the incident about 3 a.m.
By yesterday afternoon, they were already pacified.
“We will just wait for updates. They are also trying their best. We’ll just wait for the outcome since they have talked to the staff involved.” said the victim’s sister Golddy Siton-Yuson after meeting with the hospital’s management.
Since the CCMC’s temporary facility has been operating in the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) compound, they don’t have adequate facilities yet.
The hospital’s makeshift morgue is a “cadaver holding area” in one container van, said Panugaling.As of yesterday afternoon, the cadaver was already transferred to a funeral parlor.
Panugaling said if the hospital staff are proven to have disregarded the concerns of the family at that time, they face sanctions. “We are very strict with our human resource. They have to be disciplined,” he said. Sought for comment, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said the incident is being lookied into.
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