The renovation of the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital (TTM) morgue is ongoing and should be completed on 31 March, according to the Director General for the Ministry of Health Aiono Dr Alec Ekeroma in an email on Tuesday.

Aiono was asked about the morgue renovations due to complaints by families whose family members' corpses have been at the morgue for over two months now.

Commissioner of Police Auapa'au Logoitino Filipo recently confirmed that the police put a hold on autopsies following advice from the Ministry of Health.

More than 10 bodies had been shifted to another morgue while some have not been released for over two months frustrating relatives.

Auapaau had said the Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital morgue was under renovation until the second week of April and until then no autopsies could be carried out.

He said the police are dealing with complaints from family members whose loved ones' bodies are at the TTM Hospital mortuary and haven't been released.

He said many of these bodies are due for autopsies and the police were in the process of bringing a pathologist over as soon as the green light was given by the Ministry of Health.

"Post mortems can only be done at the hospital morgue and that's why there's a delay because the hospital mortuary is on renovations," Auapaau said.

"All corpses are now at the Fesili morgue as we await renovations to be completed next month.”

Hence the ongoing renovations for the TTM Morgue, Aiono also responded to some of the complaints from the members of the public who expressed their concerns about the poor conditions of most wards at the national hospital.

"All maintenance projects are progressing well," Aiono replied.

Some photos taken by Samoa Observer earlier this month revealed leakages in the wards. The pictures also showed the poor condition of the restrooms and showers used by patients admitted to the hospital.