St Luke's Hospital mortuary

Very early on April 7, my wife and I received the phone call that we had long dreaded; my father had gone to his eternal reward. I quickly made plans to come to Malta to be with my family in our time of sorrow.

Since it was Wednesday in Holy Week, my father could not be buried until after Easter; so his body was taken to the mortuary at St Luke's Hospital.

The day of the funeral, several members of my family and I went to the mortuary at St Luke's Hospital to escort my father's remains to St Sebastian church in Qormi and, following Mass, on to the cemetery for burial.

It was a shocking experience for me when we entered the mortuary. The remains of at least 15 recently deceased people, several of them clearly in the early stages of decay, were displayed in full view of anyone that came into the mortuary.

Some of the deceased were in coffins, while others were laid on all sorts of contraptions, one of which looked like a door that had been commandeered for the purpose.

What a disgraceful display of irreverence towards the dead! It was embarrassing and disgusting to witness such disrespect for the dead.

Our nation's traditions of respect for the dead go back millennia as evidenced by the Hypogeum, the Neolithic temple sites, and the more recent catacombs.

What has happened to these traditions that we were taught in our childhood and that we held so dear?

If the administrators at St Luke's Hospital cannot bring themselves to treat the remains of deceased people with the respect and dignity that they deserve, they should at least show some compassion and respect for the feelings of the recently bereaved members of the families of the deceased.

When the bereaved come to the mortuary to collect the remains of their loved ones, they are already in a state of emotionally distress from their loss. They should at least be spared the additional emotional assault of being forced to view the remains of other people, especially when they are held in such grotesque and primitive surroundings.

To the administrators at St Luke's Hospital, especially those directly responsible for the mortuary - have you no shame? You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Is this how you treat the remains of your loved ones, and how you wish your remains to be treated when your time comes?