Many dead bodies are kept in morgues for long periods of time. Some corpses are not identified and in some cases the time required to complete procedures delays their burials. The matter is made worse because there can be problems with organization and security, a number of people said, and the process of delivering bodies to morgues is not always well-organized. On Tuesday, a reporter witnessed the delivery of the body of an African woman, who died of a stroke, to King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah; an employee made an unclear copy of the woman's passport and received an official letter from Al-Sharafiya Police. Enad Thaker, a hospital visitor, said there must be accurate procedures for receiving unidentified bodies to avoid their accumulation and burial delays. He said someone from the police must be present when delivering a body, that just a letter is not sufficient. In Hail, several residents demanded that the Health Affairs organize hospital morgues to avoid mistakes. Some hospitals still use manual archives, they said, calling for more control over morgues, which are crowded with unidentified bodies. Ayed Al-Enizi, who was completing procedures to receive a relative's body, said he noticed a “lack of organization.” “When a relative dies, we suffer until we find out where the body is in the morgue,” he said. “There's no one to take you to it right away.” Muhammad Al-Muklef, who said files were scattered at a hospital's morgue, demanded better organization of the documents to avoid manipulation and mistakes. Zaid Al-Ali, another resident, said clear and accurate procedures are needed because there are mistakes in receiving and releasing bodies. Faisal Al-Khalaf said the accumulation of bodies at Hail hospitals' morgues annoys many residents. Unidentified bodies that need to be investigated should be placed in special morgues monitored by the police because the existing morgues lack room and security, he added. Saud Al-Dakheel said his family had to bury a relative right away because they couldn't find a place for the body at any Hail hospital. He agreed that morgues are not guarded or monitored and said anyone can freely enter and exit. A source at Hail's King Khaled Hospital admitted the lack of organization of files on dead bodies and said bodies received from hospitals are not electronically registered. Saleh Abdullah Nai, Public Relations Director at King Fahd Hospital in Al-Baha, said the longest period of time a body is lying in a morgue here has been for three months because the family has not completed procedures to repatriate it to the person's home country. __
