The Health Ministry yesterday flatly denied a morbid rumour of necrophilia having taken place at the Mater Dei mortuary, which according to the grapevine had resulted in the death of a woman.
Over the past week people have been huddling around tables, whispering to each other over a pint of beer or a cup of tea, about a rumour of necrophilia within the Mater Dei mortuary.
It was on Tuesday that this newspaper first heard the horrific rumour. In essence it involved an employee having allegedly passed on a parasitic infection to a woman after having had sexual contact with cadavers.
TMI first enquired about the rumour on Wednesday, but decided to hold back on the story pending concrete details, rather than relying on the grapevine. Subsequently, unconfirmed reports of the story surfaced in other sections of the local media.
In a statement, the Health Ministry said: “Following the publication of an unfounded story concerning allegations of necrophilia which are currently spreading in the community, Mater Dei Hospital Management denies all these facts and condemns the circulation of such unfounded morbid news which is causing great pressure on the staff who works in the Hospital Mortuary.”
The authorities seemed shocked to hear about the rumour when TMI informed them of it and this newspaper was assured that they would be looking into the matter.
Some hours later, on Wednesday, we were informed that Director of Health Ray Busuttil said: “We have not received any report of such a case and we are therefore not investigating anything”.
TMI later sent questions to the Ministry, asking: What are the allegations related to the case? Has an investigation been launched? If so what are the preliminary findings? Has the alleged perpetrator been suspended? Does the allegation seem to have substance?”
A one-line answer read: “The Ministry has not received any reports on the case. We are investigating if this is hearsay or true.”
TMI enquired once more and the last correspondence with the Ministry prior to the statement being issued read: “We honestly do not know if this is even true. We have heard so many versions of the story that we have no clue what the real story should be. To date no report was made on the matter.”