.png)
By Madu Obi
Awka- Anambra State-owned Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, COOUTH, Amaku-Awka mortuary, is said to be filled with abandoned corpses, forcing authorities of the institution to declare that disposal of such corpses would begin in the next two months.
Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Henrietta Agbai, in a statement at the weekend on behalf of the Chief Medical Director of COOUTH, Dr Josephat Akabuike, and the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of the hospital, Dr Emmanuel Mba, said the mortuary had never been in such a situation.
It was gathered that most of the corpses are unidentified, and some of them have been in the mortuary since 2014.
The teaching hospital is usually the first port of call for health emergencies in and around the state capital, especially whenever road accidents occur, while many people take their sick relations to the hospital as a last option when such patients are in critical conditions.
According to Agbai, the state government has already granted approval for the disposal of the unclaimed corpses.
She said: “His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has approved the disposal of abandoned corpses at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital.
“To this end, the management wishes to inform the general public that COOUTH Amaku-Awka intends to conduct mass burials of the abandoned corpses in its mortuary from 2014 to December 2023."
She called on those whose relatives are missing to visit the hospital’s mortuary for possible identification and collection of such corpses within the next one month before the commencement of the mass burials.
Comments