The Federal Medical Centre in Abuja is concerned about the overcrowding in its mortuary brought on by unclaimed bodies left at the facility.
The hospital’s administrators said that arrangements are being made for a mass burial of the eight unidentified bodies.
Dr. Joseph Eziechila, Head of Clinical Services, told a PUNCH correspondent that the hospital administration had obtained a court order, a police extract, and cemetery authorization to bury the bodies.
“Policies exist in every institution. Unclaimed bodies are those who have been at a mortuary for longer than 18 months with no one showing up to claim them. When trying to dispose of the corpses, you need a court order, which we obtained. You also need police extracts and permission to go to the cemetery in order to dispose of the bodies. We also published in newspapers. You don’t need to bridge the procedure because we’ve already completed all of them.
“We have eight corpses, they are all adults. They’re blocking the space, they’re in the morgue for two years and nobody to come and claim the bodies. We have made adverts, radio announcements and nobody is coming to claim them, we can’t leave it like that.”
“We intend to bury them all together, though we have not yet set a date for that. It’s possible that no medical students are requesting it.
“Powering and maintaining the morgue is very expensive. If certain colleges apply and the corpses are still in good condition, we will give them the bodies so they can use them for learning, added Eziechila.